Putin insisted Ukraine could have been behind terror attack
President Vladimir Putin of Russia acknowledged for the first time that “radical Islamists” had carried out the attack on a concert hall near Moscow, while insisting that Ukraine could still have played a role.
“This atrocity can be just an element in a series of attempts of those who have been at war with our country since 2014,” Putin said during a publicly broadcast meeting with government officials, referring to the Ukrainian government. He questioned why the four suspects in the Friday attack, which killed at least 139 people, had been captured in a part of Russia that borders Ukraine.
Russian state media has been pushing the narrative that Ukraine was behind the attack, even though the Islamic State claimed responsibility. The U.S. and France both said that an Islamic State entity was responsible, and Ukraine has denied involvement. Russian investigators have shown no evidence that the four suspects, migrant workers from Tajikistan, have any connection to Ukraine.
The suspects: The four men looked battered when they were arraigned, and videos of them being tortured and beaten during interrogation circulated widely on Russian social media. A New York Times visual investigation linked them to the attack.
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SW-User
It was either ISIS or the Russians themselves. They are not beyond killing their own people to get a specifc political goal, namely full conscription.
@SW-User Russia already has conscription for all men aged 18–30.
SW-User
@badlands actually it has not, natives of St Petersburg and Moscow are not getting conscripted, it is only those in other regions that are, this is why there have been some protests. The Russians are effectively loosing the war but not winning their 3 day special operation. A country without a navy has pretty much destroyed or rendered harmless one of the world’s strongest fleets, namely the Black Sea fleet. Putin needs to blame someone, so he blames those that originally issued the alert… If the Russians have full conscription why were / are they recruiting from Prisons and other outlying areas. With conscription they can easily hit 5 million and steam roll into Ukraine…
@SW-User Natives? Native only means you are from a place. You can be a native of Moscow, but living in Perm or by the sea in Sochi. Men from all parts of Russia are conscripted. Moscow and St. Petersburg have more universities, and this can help you gain a deferral. It would be postponed until you finish your studies. Moscow still has many thousands of men fighting.
"If the Russians have full conscription why were / are they recruiting from Prisons and other outlying areas."
Why not?
SW-User
@badlands many thousands of those who are not from Moscow or St Petersburg. Anyhow, it was either ISIS or organised by Putin, even Lukashenko blew Putins ‘heading to Ukraine story, as he confirmed they were heading to Belarus. It’s just a dying guy clutching at straws to blame someone, there is no western reason to attack a concert hall, zero, an army barracks, a power plant, etc yeah but the attack is just a move to Putin to blame the west for something he failed to prevent.
@SW-User They are! Why do you insist they are not? You don't know what you're talking about.
This "terror attack" is the work of the CIA. The reason is that Ukraine isn't winning in Ukraine. Russia is still there. CIA is very rogue; they do what they want.
SW-User
@badlands actually I do know very well what I’m talking about. The Russian legion is active in Russia, so the cia decide to attack a civilian centre in Moscow….. something that Ukraine has where possible avoided, example the recent attack on Russian Black Sea HQ and warships using Storm Shadow and Scalp, the Russian response attack civilian population centres. Your linking of the CiA to this is at best farcical, there was no strategic or tactical reason to do it. Let’s assume for one minute the CIA is active inside Moscow and other Russian cities etc, do you have them attack some random civilians or have them use DLPs for drone attacks on strategic infrastructure targets…. Hmmm
@SW-User "actually I do know very well what I’m talking about."
Not with regard to conscription.
"Your linking of the CiA to this is at best farcical, there was no strategic or tactical reason to do it."
What is the strategic or tactical reason for Russia to orchestrate this terror attack? CIA doesn’t need a good strategy or tactics. Ukraine, and the US, blew up Nord Stream. Ukraine operates alongside the US because they are used as a proxy. It is naive to pretend that Ukraine functions as an independent party in this war. The reasons for this terror attack are more malicious than tactical, although it has the purpose of affecting the psychology of Russians. They are in a war and this is what most in Russia are thinking about. Every day, sacrifices are made and life is not going to be the same there for some time. A terror attack makes them stop thinking about the war and Ukraine, and it turns their attention to another enemy. This kind of grief and distraction is good for the US and Ukraine, not Putin or Russia.
Large agencies like the CIA are not what you think; they are comprised of people, people who either want to cause harm or have no issue in causing harm.
