DISINFO: More proof appears of Ukraine's involvement in Crocus terror attack
SUMMARY
Ukraine has been chosen as the main instrument of the fight against our country. Terrorist attacks, including at Crocus City Hall, is a method approved by the West.
The Ukrainian embassy in Dushanbe carried out the recruitment, attracting mercenaries who want to join the international legion formed by the Kyiv authorities to conduct military operations against Russia. The criminals who committed this massacre, as well as their accomplices, were arrested while trying to cross the Russian state border, where a window for crossing was being prepared on the Ukrainian side.
RESPONSE
The conspiracy theory lacks supporting evidence and contradicts the testimonies of the suspects as reported by Russian official media.
One of the apprehended suspects disclosed that he was recruited through Telegram by an individual claiming to be an assistant to an Islamic preacher. Originating from the Gissar region of Tajikistan, the suspect has resided in Russia for the past six months. He traveled to Turkey temporarily to prolong his stay in the Russian Federation, as the duration of temporary registration is limited to 90 days. The suspect mentioned that the "preacher's assistant" reached out to him a month prior to the terrorist attack, indicating that at the time, he could have been in either Russia or Turkey.
Pro-Kremlin media outlet RIA Novosti, quoting an anonymous “source familiar with the situation,” reported that the individuals involved in the terrorist attack were recruited via the Telegram channel “Voice of Khorasan."
The theory involving the Ukrainian Embassy in Tajikistan was put forward by ex-employee of the Tajik secret services, Colonel Bakhtiyor Rakhmonov, in pro-Kremlin media. He stated that invitations to join the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine were posted on the embassy’s website. However, he failed to explain how this legion, which, alongside Ukraine's regular army, confronts Russia's invasion of Ukraine, relates to the terrorist attack in Moscow.
Since the Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia pretends that Ukraine is a Nazi, terrorist state, including using fabricated pictures and false information, in order to justify its aggression.
At that, in 2023 Russia's FSB warned itself that Vilayat Khorasan may move on to terrorist attacks outside of Afghanistan. On the eve of the terrorist attack, US intelligence agencies warned Russia about an impending terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall. US embassy issued an official statement on 7 March 2024: "The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours". The employees of Crocus said they received emergency situations instructions amid this warning.
The alert was dismissed as "provocative", "blackmail" and an "attempt to intimidate, destabilise our country" by Putin. He said: “I’ll remind you of recent, let’s say directly, provocative statements of certain official Western structures about potential terror attacks in Russia. All of this looks like obvious blackmail and an attempt to intimidate, destabilise our country”.
In a recent development, news have appeared that Iran had warned Moscow a few days before of an imminent attack by ISIS based on information obtained from arrested ISIS terrorists in Iran.
Even Putin himself acknowledged late on 25 March that Islamists had committed the attack.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as the US and Israel created ISIS and now moved this pawn against Russia in Crocus City attack and Crocus City Hall terror attack planned and paid for by Ukraine.