Why the West is wrong to blame ISIS for the Crocus Terrorist Attack

An Observer in a Black Sea town 

” The American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) assert Russia has no evidence to claim Ukraine was involved in the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall on 22 March 2024.”

Actually, the Russians do have evidence and they have shared some of it with the world including,

1. The terrorists were heading to the Ukraine border to escape.
2. A window was opened at the border from the Ukrainian side, which means instructions must have been issued to Ukrainian border guards from the highest levels of the Ukrainian government.
3. The terrorists do not fit the typical Jihadist prototype as they were motivated by money, not religious ideology. It would be more accurate to describe them as “mercenaries”, or “mercenary terrorists”. Each was to be paid a half a million roubles (US$5400; AUS$8272)

The Americans and Western media cannot explain away these three facts which explains why they ignore them, or worse still, dismiss it as “Kremlin propaganda”, because they have no way to counter such compelling evidence. At the very least, these three key facts implicate Ukrainian intelligence. Obviously, the Russians will dig deeper to ascertain who ordered the terrorist attack, but don’t be surprised if the chain-of-command goes all the way back to the CIA and MI6.

The point to be made here is that if the SBU (Ukrainian intelligence) was involved, as these three facts suggest, and given the CIA and MI6 play a considerable role in directing the Ukrainian intelligence services, then it is unlikely the four Tajikistan Muslims who carried out the terrorist attack in Moscow were recruited by ISIS, but were recruited by the Ukrainians in conjunction with the CIA and MI6 in a black propaganda operation. The West is playing a smoke and mirrors game here.

According to the US government, the four terrorists were from ISIS-K, a less than real group based in Afghanistan, but they have not provided any evidence to prove this, nor has the US government provided evidence the four terrorists had been to Afghanistan. The Japan Times claims: “Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the atrocity in Moscow, and that is likely true.” No, it is not “very likely true.” Such claims, which are made in the West too, have not been proven, and it cannot be said to be “likely true” as no attempt has been made to verify the source of the claim which came from a telegram channel which, for all we know, could have been operated by the CIA in a classic black propaganda operation.

It is right to be suspicious about the cynical narrative being pushed by the US government and the Western media on the Crocus terror attack, especially as they came out with the claim ISIS-K was behind the attack in less than 30 minutes after the terrorist attack occurred, without a shred of evidence to substantiate their claims. How could the Americans know in less than just 30 minutes that ISIS was behind last Friday’s terror attack in Moscow? Where is their investigation? Where is their data collection? Where is their evidence to prove it? They have none, not a thing, just opinion statements.

In less than thirty minutes after the attack in Moscow, White House spokesman Admiral John Kirby said: “We know Ukraine was not behind it”. How does Kirby know this? And why did the US government feel it was necessary to make such a claim before Russia began to point the finger at Ukraine? A well-known trait amongst criminals is that if you can get your version of what occurred in a crime to the Police first, the Police will be more likely to believe you, not those who are slow to come forward.

The Russians have been more cautious in their statements. They have been more methodical in their investigation, preferring to not making claims until they have good reason to do so. The Russians should be given credit for being cautious and thorough. By contrast, the Americans have invested considerable time to deflect attention away from Ukraine to some off-beat terrorist group in Afghanistan, without offering any evidence, or attempting to address the three facts given above.

Just minutes after the terrorist attack took place in Moscow, The Washington Post published an article by Max Boot claiming ISIS-K were responsible for the attack and that Russia had “imaginary foes”. Boot must have written in this article days before the attack in Moscow took place and the article was conveniently deployed shortly after the attack took place in order to get the American version out first, to manipulate public opinion.

It is easy for the American Public Broadcasting Service to say Russia has provided no evidence, but in doing so, they ignore the fact that Russia has provided evidence that suggests Ukraine, the US and the UK may have been directly involved in the terrorist attack in Moscow on 22 March. Of further significance, the PBS has failed to disclose the US government has not provided evidence to support their claims. In the end, all the PSB is doing here is to push propaganda aimed at discrediting Russia’s ongoing investigation. Putting the blame for a terrorist attack on an Islamic group is an easy sell in the West.

The US government and the Western media cannot explain why the terrorists were heading to the Ukraine border. FSB officers tagged their escape vehicle as it left the Crocus carpark and could have arrested at the crime scene, but decided to hold back and to follow them to see which direction they would go, and to intercept their phone calls.[i] Much information was obtained during this period, including the fact that Ukrainian authorities had opened a window at the border so they terrorists could flee into safety. FSB decided to intercept the terrorists as they passed through a forest in the Bryansk region, close to the Ukraine border. The US government cannot explain why the terrorists were heading to Ukraine, or why the Ukrainian authorities had opened a window at the border for the terrorists to escape. It is useless for the Americans or the Western media to deny it because the FSB have intercept recordings, which no doubt will be made public in due course. On being arrested, one terrorist revealed he did the killing at Crocus for money. That is an important revelation for it shows the motivation of the terrorists was not religious ideology, but financial gain.

Terrorists intercepted in a forest in the Bryansk region, close to the Ukraine border.

A captured terrorist accompanied by FSB officers.

Another reason to be wary of blindly accepting the US position that ISIS-K was behind the attack is that these mercenary terrorists do not fit the typical jihadist. ISIS terrorists are ideologically motivated. ISIS terrorists are not motivated by financial reward. They are willing to be martyred, so they can go to paradise and enjoy 57 virgins. For this reason, Jihadist terrorists do not blur their faces when committing a terrorist attack because they do not plan to escape and will continue the killing until they are killed. The Tajikistan terrorists in Moscow did not want to die. They blurred their faces to conceal their identities because they wanted to escape and live another day. They had a prepared escape route into Ukraine. The terrorists were not motivated by religious ideology but carried out the job for fast cash. Most of the four terrorists were unemployed four weeks ago, and when this job came up, it was a way to earn fast cash. Each terrorist was to be paid a half a million roubles for the terrorist attack. They did not want to be martyred to enter paradise and screw 57 virgins.

That these mercenary terrorists did it for money and not for religious reasons is something the US Government cannot address. The evidence is too strong, and that is why the US government reacted with unsubstantiated claims that (1) ISIS-K were responsible for the Crocus terrorist attack and (2) Ukraine had nothing to do with it.

It took the US government one month to identify those behind 11/9 attack, and that occurred on their own soil where they had access to the crime scene and could gather evidence, and yet we are supposed to believe the US government could identify ISIS as the culprits in the Moscow attack in 30 minutes without having access to the crime scene, without collecting evidence, and without any investigation. The US/Western version of this attack does not pass the pub test.

The Russian government doesn’t need to pin the blame on the SBU, CIA and MI6. The facts speak for themselves.

It is unfortunate that an information war has broken out across the world over the Crocus terrorist attack, unfairly blaming it all on ISIS, and not considering the very real possibility Ukraine, US and UK intelligence were directly involved. The fact that the West is so aggressive in pushing its propaganda should give pause to accepting anything the Western media says. Let’s wait a month and see what the Russians come up with. Russian intelligence has telephone intercepts, video and photographic evidence, and when that is presented to the world, it may surprise all of us and put to rest the West’s fake version of who ordered the recent terrorist attack in Moscow.

One of those detained on suspicion of a terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in the Basmanny Court building.

 

 

 

 

Terrorists intercepted in a forest in the Bryansk region, close to the Ukraine border.

 

 

 

 

 

 A captured terrorist accompanied by FSB officers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weapon of one of the terrorists

 

 

 

 

NOTE A : Driving away at high speed from the Crocus, the terrorists in a Renault with a black roof hit an 8-year-old boy who is in serious condition in hospital.

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A THUPPAHI NOTE:

This analysis presents an entirely new perspective on the attack on the concert hall Crocus. Since the assailants were identified as Muslims, I assumed that they were jihadists and thus likely to be inspired by ISIS ideology …. see ……………………………….. https://thuppahis.com/2024/03/27/islamic-jihadists-assault-on-moscow-concert-hall/. However, the evidence that they were heading for the borders of Ukraine is of import and supports this author’s reasoning…..though we will have to wait on more data (certain to emerge because they have been captured alive and the USSR regime will  certainly extract gen). 

Let me add that in Sri Lanka the Zahran coterie behind the April 2019 attacks chose to die in their endeavours ….and, as significantly, the wife of one jihadist assailant committed suicide when the police arrived at her apartment building in Colombo South.

For some of my assessments, visit

• https://thuppahis.com/2020/11/06/allahu-akbar-missing-dimensions-in-contemporary-reportage/  …
• https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/05/14/the-clash-of-civilisations-and-hate-at-the-heart-of-21-4-in-sri-lanka/#more-35621