That’s according to the Times of Ukraine citing a propaganda agency Amaq.
The attack was executed by four militants wielding assault rifles, pistols, knives, and bombs. Ptior to the attack, they had been thoroughly reconnoitering the venue. Islamic State officials say three militants burst into the hall and opened fire on the crowd, while the fourth perpetrator set off improvised incendiary bombs.
Currently, 133 people have been confirmed dead and another 140 injured.
At the same time, a U.S. intelligence official told the Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had confirmed that ISIS was responsible for the attack. He also told the publication that earlier this month, American intelligence tipped Moscow about an ISIS affiliate plotting a terrorist attack.
At the same time, the New York Times article states that ISIS-K, the organization’s branch in Afghanistan, has been “fixated” on Russia for the past two years. The reason is wars raging in Muslim countries, in particular, Syria and Chechnya.
It should be recalled that Russian television aired a deep fake video purportedly showing Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, who is seen “confirming” Ukraine’s involvement in the terrorist attack.
According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, footage from the March 16 telethon was used to create the deep fake. In the video, the face of the defense intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, was replaced with that of Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
The CCD also believes that the Russian Federation seels to accuse Ukraine of a terrorist attack in order to improve its army callup effort.
The terrorist attack in Moscow is a provocation designed by the Russian special services at the behest of Vladimir Putin to justify even harsher strikes on Ukraine and total mobilization of the Russian population. This was announced by Ukraine’s defense intelligence.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the President’s Office, also stated that Ukraine was not involved in the mass shooting. He also noted that Ukraine had never employed terrorist methods of war, unlike the Russian Federation. He recalled that even in recent Russian history there were many precedents where the Kremlin exploited terrorist attacks against its own citizens to justify offensive military operations.
