Putin claims attackers were heading to Ukraine despite ISIS taking responsibility | DW News

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the

attackers

behind Friday's deadly shooting at a concert hall in Moscow were headed to Ukraine when they were detained by Russian authorities. The Russian president made this link despite repeated

claims

by the so-called Islamic State that they are behind the attack. at least 133 people died in the attack on Crocus Town Hall a report contains images that may be distressing a stream of mourners gather at a m Memorial shift placing tributes on The Cordon surrounding Crocus Town Hall inside officials comb the charred building which is still burning after gunmen set it on fire following their shooting, the attack, one of the deadliest in Russia for many years, has shocked the country, large crowds flocked to Moscow to donate blood to the wounded, of course, I stayed in shock and I felt fear and horror.

I myself was at a concert in Crocus and when I saw those horrible videos I was shocked and even now I cry when I talk about it, it was very scary to see, all the people paid their respects in cities all over Russia on Saturday. President Putin addressed the nation. By linking the attack to Ukraine, the four perpetrators of the terrorist act who shot and killed people were arrested. They were

heading

towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window had been prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border. Russian state television heard these images from the area that says the gunmen were detained in Ukraine has denied any involvement and the so-called Islamic State has repeatedly claimed

responsibility

.

The United States says it had tried to warn Russia about possible attacks in recent weeks. Putin rejected those

claims

for several days. Recently I would also like to recall the recent provocative statements by various Western official structures regarding possible terrorist attacks in Russia. All of these actions seem like outright blackmail and intended to intimidate and destabilize our society. Authorities said rescuers would continue searching the scene of the shooting. For several days, Sunday has been declared a day of national mourning. SC more from Vladimir esipov from DW Russia, welcome Vladimir, so we have President Putin linking this attack to Ukraine, even the so-called Islamic State says it carried out the attack.

Let's just untangle that for ourselves. Well, it is not surprising that even before the elections there were rumors that after the elections something could happen in Russia that could further consolidate Vladimir Putin's power. He would say that they were rumors about a possible general mass mobilization, so it could be a There are reasons to do more for the Kremlin and the Russian government to adopt more security measures inside Russia and, um, the issue is not what What has happened but how to refocus the focus of public opinion from the Islamic State to Ukraine, as we see in Recently, in the last 12 hours, in the last hours since the terrorist attacks occurred in Russia, there was a kind of tsunami of publications in state-controlled media and military bloggers, who are very popular with the Russian public and, for example, the head of Russia Today and they all point the blame, they blame Ukraine for this terrorist attack, no matter what the media reports.

Islamic States, they all try to focus their attention on Ukraine, so they say this was not a problem. attack or they are saying that Ukraine worked well with the Islamic State. Ukraine is the biggest Emon of the Russian public seen as a Russian government right now, so the point is to refocus or redirect attention from the Islamic State declaration to Ukraine. and use control over public opinion in Russia for the internal leadership internal politics internal politics internal political objectives so that these Islamic States can communicate whatever they want the point is what the Russian government and the Russians will take from this in terms of Ukraine and It seems to me, they are trying to redirect it to Ukraine, so if we assume it was Islamic State, why would they attack Russia?

There is a history of Islamic terrorist attacks in Russia, dating back to the 90s from Chich North Caucasus Russia. has a history of involvement in Afghanistan and for years Russia has a history of involvement in Syria and others in other Islamic countries, recently 10 years ago for example, so there are sort of reasons for the Islamic extremist to focus on Russia , there were rumors or publications about the Afghan branch of the Islamic States planning something on Russian soil, so that could be a reason to attack Russia, and we heard in the report President Putin describe these American warnings or dismiss these American warnings, which which seems strange given the circumstances.

Yes, but the Americans declared themselves enemies of the Russian state, so anything the American authorities say to the Russians is being perceived very negatively. In fact, it was a warning from American authorities to American citizens living in Russia to avoid crowds and mass gatherings like concerts like yesterday and the American press also reported private warnings at the level among the Secret Service, so the point is what the Americans communicated to the Russian sites and uh, I'm not, I'm not so sure. They ignore it as a whole, but we will probably know as the public, we will never know what the Americans communicated to the Russians, and once again the point is what the Russian government will do regarding Ukraine, which is the most interesting point now. , okay, thanks for that Vladimir Vladimir esipov from DW Russia Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared Sunday a day of national mourning.

Let's listen to what he just said. The most important thing now is not to leave those who are left behind. In this bloody carnage they committed new crimes. The four directly involved in the attack who shot and killed people were found and arrested. They tried to hide and advance towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary data, the Ukrainian side prepared a window for them to cross. border in total 11 people have been detained the Federal Security Service and other law enforcement agencies of Russia are working to find terrorist accomplices. Earlier I spoke to military analyst Marina Moran of King's College about the so-called Islamic State militant group that has claimed

responsibility

for the attack.

I asked him why he would target Russia and why well, that's a good question because it's surprising that this group and it's not, we shouldn't confuse it with a major Islamic State that is still active in Iraq, it's Islamic State K, which It is a different group, the case means horison. These guys were operating in Afghanistan so they were also a danger to both the Taliban and the US forces there and they started in 2014 and they also supposedly have ties to in the North Caucasus and have claimed that attacks like the one in Iran also killed a lot of people recently, so the problem here is that yes, they have afflictions and they have been criticizing Putin and they have been accusing Russia of I am involved in the repression of Muslims, but the problem is the timing, why now, because the Russians were fighting the Islamic State in 2018, it would make a lot more sense, but why did they wait until after the election to carry out their attack and what exactly is their goal? message on stage and how credible they are, they have claimed attacks in the past that they didn't carry out, so there are a lot of questions about this right now.

I'm curious to know how much of a presence the Islamic State has in Russia or Well, in the region there is some presence in Russia and in fact the FSB claims that they have prevented a shooting at a synagogue after US intelligence issued a warning to the American citizens on March 7. I think it was like that. There is a presence and there were those from Russia who on the day when the Syrian war was in full swing were traveling from Russia to Syria to fight on the side of the Islamic State, so certainly there is a presence, but how big is that network? ?

I can't say it doesn't look like it's very advanced, so they would have had to cross the border possibly from Tajikistan or maybe from Usbekistan to get to Russia. Beyond the rhetoric, how will the Kremlin likely respond to this attack? The answer was difficult, no one expected it. I don't know at what point the FSB knew that something was being planned. As I said, they claim to have prevented another possible shooting by the Islamic State. Just on March 8, therefore, I think the immediate response. They did what they could do, what happens next is of course a question we have heard President Putin say that these militants wanted to go to Ukraine to cross the Ukrainian border so I guess there will be investigations in terms of what links do they have?

Do these militants have any ties to Ukraine? Who really supports them? Because the Islamic State could be behind the attack, but is it just the Islamic State or is there any potential group involved in this? Our thanks, as always, to a military analyst, Marina. Miran from King's College thank you for inviting me.