The head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Oleksandr Bortnikov said on Tuesday that the terrorist attack in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert hall was prepared by radical Islamists with the support of Ukrainian special services, UNIAN and Interfax reported.

Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Oleksandr Bortnikov said that the attackers wanted to reach Ukraine, where some people were ready to accompany the attackers across the border, Reuters notes.

“In general, we believe that they are involved in this,” Bortnikov told reporters about Ukraine’s possible involvement, Russian news agencies report.

According to him, the FSB has information about Ukraine’s involvement in the attack.

“The head of the GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, is a legitimate target for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, just like everyone who commits crimes against Russia,” Bortnikov said after the extended panel of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.

“We believe that the action was prepared both by radical Islamists themselves and, of course, by Western special services, and Ukrainian special services are directly involved in this,” added Bortnikov.

The attackers said they wanted to flee to Ukraine, the head of the FSB claims

He did not provide any evidence for his claims, but mentioned the alleged attempt of the perpetrators to enter Ukraine, which he said he learned from the suspects who were beaten during interrogation by Russian investigators.

“The fact that they were going there and were waiting for them is a fact,” Bortnikov said.

He also stated that the FSB has not yet established who ordered the terrorist attack on March 22, but there are signs of the involvement of the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine, Interfax reports.

During his address to the nation on Saturday, Vladimir Putin said that all those responsible for the attack on the Piknik concert will be punished.

On Monday, he said the attack was carried out by radical Islamists, but said the attackers were trying to flee to Ukraine and questioned why Islamists would want to attack Russia at this time without encouraging others to do so, Reuters reported.

“We know that this crime was committed by radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has struggled with for centuries,” Putin said. “We want to know who ordered it.”

The head of the FSB also claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) should be recognized as a terrorist organization, TASS reports.

And Mykola Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday that Ukraine was “of course” behind the terrorist attack, Reuters reports.

“For the last 15 years, law enforcement agencies have been more concerned with the fight against the opposition than with terrorism”

For the past 15 years, law enforcement agencies in Russia have been more concerned with “fighting the opposition than fighting terrorism and extremism,” which is one of the reasons why the Crocus City Hall attack in the region could have happened in Moscow, leaving at least 140 dead.

This is the opinion of the Russian political scientist Mykhailo Komin, originally from St. Petersburg, who settled in Vienna a year ago.

The expert is the former scientific director of the Center for Advanced Management Solutions, Russia, and the recipient of several awards related to the dispute since his student days at the National Research Institute in St. Petersburg. Komin was invited as an expert to the European Council on Foreign Affairs (ECFR).

The terrorist act in Crocus City Hall, Moscow Region, which took more than 140 lives, distorted Russian society not only for absolutely obvious reasons at first glance. Putin’s promises about the security of his country’s people have failed.

Russian expert Michael Komin gave the explanation in an interview with Hotnews.ro, which you can read here.

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