Mosca imputa IS por primera vez por actividades terroristas.
Moscow once denied any involvement of Islamists in an attack near the city. But recently, the secret service shifted their stance. Investigations now show that ISIS was responsible, claims the FSB. However, Moscow still insists that Kiev was involved:
Allegedly for the first time, Russia places the blame on the jihadist extremist group Islamic State (IS) for orchestrating the devastating attack on a venue near Moscow. As per the state news agency RIA Novosti, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), stated that during the course of the probe, it's been determined "that the preparation, funding, assault, and escape of the terrorists were all coordinated over the internet by members of the Khorasan Province group," the Afghan branch of IS.
Furthermore, IS has already acknowledged responsibility for the attack on March 22 that left over 140 people dead and 360 injured. Despite this, Moscow frequently pointed fingers at Ukraine, a claim Kiev denied fervently. At the end of March, Russian President Vladimir Putin conceded that "radical Muslims" were behind the raid. Nonetheless, he continued to name Ukraine as the culprit.
Bortnikov clarified that the "terrorists" received orders to approach the Ukrainian border after the incident. "The investigation is still progressing, but we can already declare with assurance that Ukrainian military intelligence was directly involved in the assault," Bortnikov stated.
The assault at the end of March unfolded when armed individuals infiltrated the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, a suburb of Moscow, and started firing. Afterward, they set the building ablaze. It marked the worst assault on Russian soil in more than two decades. Currently, over 20 individuals have been detained in connection to the attack. Four alleged perpetrators, from the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, are among them.
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Source: www.ntv.de
