Moscow attack: Vladimir Putin says attack near Moscow was carried out by ‘radical Islamists’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Friday’s attack on a concert hall near Moscow, claimed by the Islamic State group, was carried out by “radical Islamists” who he said tried to flee to Ukraine . “We know that (this) crime was committed by radical Islamists with an ideology that the Islamic world itself has been fighting against for centuries,” he told a government meeting, citing the link to the first time, three days after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. “We know who committed this atrocity against Russia and its people. What interests us is who ordered it,” he added.

He then repeated that the attackers, after the attack which left at least 139 dead, according to a new report, had tried to flee towards Ukrainian territory before being arrested. “It is important to answer the question why the terrorists, after their crime, tried to leave for Ukraine? Who was waiting for them there? Those who support the Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices of terror and supporters of terrorism, but many questions arise,” the Russian president said.

This weekend, Vladimir Putin and his powerful security services, the FSB, did not mention any jihadist involvement, jointly evoking a Ukrainian lead which was strongly denied by Kiev and the West. Monday evening, Mr. Putin nevertheless once again implied that the attack could have a link with kyiv and its supporters. “Immediately, we wonder who benefits from this? This atrocity may be a new episode in the series of attempts by those who, since 2014, have been fighting our country through the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev,” he said. “And the Nazis, as is well known, never disdained using the dirtiest and most inhumane methods to achieve their goals,” he said.