Islamic State claims responsibility for massacre
Moscow, Russia:
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that it was “hard to believe” that the Islamic State was capable of carrying out an attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 140 people.
In a briefing with reporters, Zakharova instead doubled down on Moscow’s assertion that Ukraine was behind the attack on Krokus City Hall, for which Moscow has yet to provide evidence, and which Russia has suffered in 20 years. The worst attack ever.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre, and U.S. officials said they had intelligence suggesting it was carried out by the network’s Afghan affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan. Ukraine has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.
But Zakharova said Western countries are eager to blame the Islamic State (ISIS) in order to deflect responsibility from Ukraine and Western governments that support the organization.
“Desperate to come up with something to avoid collective Western suspicion, they turned to ISIS to pull a trump card up their sleeves, and just hours after the terror attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began circulating exactly These versions,” she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attack was carried out by Islamist militants but said it was for Ukraine’s benefit and Kiev may have played a role.
He said someone in Ukraine had prepared a “window” for the militants to escape across the border before they were captured in western Russia on Friday night.
However, on Tuesday, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the gunmen initially tried to enter Belarus but turned around and headed toward Ukraine after realizing the crossing into Belarus was blocked.
The head of Russia’s FSB security agency said on Tuesday he believed Ukraine, as well as the United States and Britain, were involved in the Moscow attacks.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron responded on
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