Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged this week that Islamic terrorists were behind the massacre at a concert hall that killed well over a hundred people.
Four terrorists armed with fully automatic weapons and explosives stormed the Crocus City concert hall in Moscow on Friday and opened fire on a sold out concert while simultaneously setting the building on fire.
At least 139 people have died from the attack and dozens more injured, according to figures released by the Russian government.
“We know that the crime was perpetrated by radical Islamists,” Putin said in an address on Monday.
The 71-year-old then suggested that Ukraine was somehow linked to the attack and that ISIS-K could not have carried out the attack alone because the “organization banned in Russia.”
Officials have warned that Putin will try to blame Ukraine for the attack to justify escalating his war against Ukraine.
The Russian government claimed that the terrorists tried to escape to Ukraine and suggested that there was an escape route opened for them by people inside the country — claims that have not been corroborated.
“It is also necessary to answer the question why the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine after committing a crime, who was waiting for them there?” Putin asked. “It is clear that those who support the Kyiv regime do not want to be accomplices of terror and sponsors of terrorism, but there are really a lot of questions.”
“We know by whose hands this atrocity was committed against Russia and its people, and we are interested in who the instigator is,” Putin added.
The intelligence services for the U.S. and France have both pointed to ISIS-K as the sole entity responsible for the attacks. ISIS-K took credit for the attack just a few hours after it happened.
The U.S. issued a public warning more than two weeks ago urging Americans in Moscow to avoid large crowds, especially concerts.
The U.S. government also reached out to the Russian government and warned them that ISIS-K was planning the attack.
“We gave them that private warning consistent with our duty to warn … when we see or when we gather intelligence of terrorist attacks or potential terrorist attacks,” a U.S. official said on Monday.
Russia failed to stop the attack.