For the first time in two decades, Russia acknowledged on Friday that the Islamic State organization was behind the deadly March music hall assault in Moscow.
Although Moscow has made repeated attempts to associate the attack with Ukraine and the West, IS has publicly claimed responsibility for the March 22 bombing that left over 140 people dead.
“Preparations, the financing, the attack and the retreat of the terrorists were coordinated via the internet by members of Khorasan Province (IS-K),” an IS branch active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, as quoted by the news agency RIA Novosti.
Bortnikov did not discard the Ukrainian angle in his statements on Friday, saying that “upon completing the attack, the terrorists received clear instructions to move toward the Ukrainian border, where from the other side a ‘window’ had been prepared for them”.
“The investigation continues, but it can already be said with certainty that Ukrainian military intelligence is directly implicated in the attack”, he said.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied involvement.
Gunmen in camouflage stormed the Crocus City Hall venue on the outskirts of Moscow before setting the building on fire.
Along with the four attackers, at than a dozen other suspects have been taken into custody. The four attackers are from Tajikistan, a poor former Soviet country that borders Afghanistan to the north.
According to reports, the US officially and covertly alerted Russia in early March that radicals were preparing an assault on a Moscow concert hall.
After the killing, anonymous US intelligence officials told US media outlets that they had informed Moscow that IS was especially preparing to strike Crocus City Hall.
Russia disregarded those alerts. President Vladimir Putin charged Washington of “blackmailing” and “intimidating” Russians just three days prior to the strike.
