Putin pins attack on jihadists but still blames Kyiv
By Paul Kirby
President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged “radical Islamists” carried out Friday’s deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall.
But the Russian leader has repeated his earlier claim the attackers had some kind of link to Ukraine and the West.
Ukraine has rejected the Russian claim as absurd.
An affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group says it was behind the atrocity, in which 139 people were killed, and IS has released footage of the attack.
Twenty-two people are still in a serious condition in hospital, including two children, according to Russian officials.
The Russian leader said during a televised meeting on Monday: “We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries.”
He then went on to say: “We want to know who ordered it.” Many questions remained unanswered, he argued, repeating an unfounded claim that the attackers had tried to flee south to Ukraine.
“Who was waiting for them there?” he asked. “This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014.”
