Putin claims attackers were heading to Ukraine despite ISIS taking responsibility | DW News

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the attackers behind Friday's deadly shooting at a concert hall in Moscow were heading to Ukraine when they were apprehended by Russian authorities. The Russian president made this link despite repeated claims by the so-called Islamic State that they are behind the attack. At least 133 people were killed in the attack on the Crocus City Hall. Our report contains images that you may find distressing. A stream of mourners gather at a makeshift memorial, placing tributes at the cordon surrounding the Crocus City Hall. Inside, officials combed the charred building, still smoldering after gunmen set it alight following their shooting rampage. The attack, one of the deadliest in Russia for many years, has shocked the country. Huge crowds turned out in Moscow to donate blood to those injured. Of course I was shocked and felt fear and horror. I've been to a concert at Crocus myself and when I saw those horrible videos I was shocked and in tears, even now when I speak about it. It was very scary to see it all. People paid their respects at cities across Russia on Saturday. President Putin addressed the nation, linking the attack to Ukraine. All four perpetrators of the terrorist act who shot and killed people have been detained. They were traveling towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary data, a window had been prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border. Russian state TV aired this footage of the area it says the gunmen were apprehended in. Ukraine has denied any involvement and the so-called Islamic State has repeatedly claimed responsibility. The United States says it had tried to warn Russia about potential attacks in recent weeks. Putin rejected those claims several days ago. I would also like to recall the recent provocative statements by a number of official Western structures regarding potential terrorist attacks in Russia. All these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society. Authorities said rescuers would continue to scour the shooting site for several days. Sunday has been declared a day of national mourning. Let's get more from Vladimir Asipov from DW Russia. Welcome Vladimir. So we have President Putin connecting this attack to Ukraine even though so-called Islamic State says it carried out the attack. Just untangle that for us. Well it comes as no surprise. There was rumors even before the elections that after the election something might happen in Russia which could consolidate the power of Vladimir Putin even more. He would call, it was rumors about possible mass general mobilization so it could be a reason to do some more for Kremlin and for Russian government to make some more security measures inside of Russia. And the thing is not what's happened but how to refocus the focus of the public opinion from Islamic State to the Ukraine. So we see in the recent, in the last 12 hours, in the last hours since the terror attacks in Russia happened, a kind of tsunami of publications on the state-controlled media and in the military bloggers as well who are hugely popular on the Russian public as well as, for example, the editor-in-chief of Russia Today and all of them pointing the blame, blaming the Ukraine for this terror attack. No matter what Islamic States communicate, they're all trying to focus their attentions to the Ukraine. Right, so they're saying that this wasn't an IS attack or are they saying, are they claiming that Ukraine worked with Islamic State? Well, Ukraine is the biggest enemy of Russian public, seen as a Russian government right now. So the point is to refocus or redirect their attentions from the Islamic State's statements to the Ukraine and to use the grip on the public opinion in Russia for the domestic, domestic political, domestic political goals. So these Islamic States may communicate whatever they like. The point is what Russian government and Russian authorities will take of this in terms of the Ukraine. Right. And it seems to me that they're trying to redirect it to the Ukraine. So if we presume then that this was Islamic State, why might they attack Russia? There's a history of Islamic, Islamic terror attacks in Russia. It's going back to the 90s from Chechnya, from Northern Caucasus. Russia has a history of involvement in Afghanistan in the 80s. Russia has a history of involvement in Syria, another Islamic country, recently, ten years ago, for example. So there's a kind of reasons for the Islamic extremists to focus on Russia. There was rumors or publications about Afghanistan branch of Islamic States planning something on Russian soil. So it might be a reason, giving them a reason to attack Russia. Right. And we heard in the report President Putin describing these U.S. warnings, dismissing these U.S. warnings, which seems odd given the circumstances. Yeah, but America is declared enemy of Russian state. So whatever American authorities tell to Russians, it's being perceived very negatively. It was indeed a warning by the American authorities to the American citizens living in Russia to avoid crowds, to avoid mass gatherings in such countries, like concert like yesterday. And it was private warnings as well on the level between the secret services, as it's reported by the American press. So the point is what the Americans communicated to Russian sites. And I'm not being, I'm not that sure they ignored it as a whole, but probably we will, as a public, we will never know what was communicated by the Americans to the Russian side. And once again, the point is what Russian government will do of it in terms of the Ukraine. That's the most interesting point right now. Okay, thank you for that Vladimir. Vladimir Ezipov from DW Russia. In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced Sunday as a day of national mourning. Let's have a listen to what he just said. The most important thing now is not to let those behind this bloody butchering commit new crimes. All four of those directly involved in the attack, who shot and killed people, have been found and arrested. They tried to hide and move towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, the Ukrainian side prepared a window for them to cross the border. All in all, 11 people have been detained. The Federal Security Service and Russia's other responsible law enforcement agencies are working on finding the terrorist's accomplices. Now, earlier I spoke to military analyst Marina Muran from King's College about the so-called Islamic State militant group, which has claimed responsibility for the attack. I asked her why IS would target Russia and why now? Well, that's a good question, because it is surprising that this group, and it's not, we shouldn't confuse it with the main Islamic State, which is still active in Iraq, it's Islamic State K, which is a different group. K stands for Khorasan. These guys were operating in Afghanistan, so they were also a danger to both the Taliban and the US forces there, and they started in 2014, and allegedly they also have ties to the North Caucasus, and they have claimed attacks, for instance, the one in Iran, also killing a lot of people just recently. So the problem here is that, yes, they do have grievances, and they have been criticizing Putin, and they have been accusing Russia of being implicated in suppressing Muslims, but the problem is the timing. Why now? Because the Russians were fighting the Islamic State in 2018, so it would make much more sense, but why did they wait until after the election to conduct their attack, and what exactly is their message at this stage, and how credible are they? They have claimed attacks in the past, which they didn't conduct, so there are a lot of questions about this right now. I'm curious, how much of a presence does Islamic State have in Russia or in the region? Well, there is some presence in Russia, and as a matter of fact, the FSB claims that they have prevented a synagogue shooting after the US intelligence had issued a warning to American citizens on March 7th, I believe it was. So there is a presence, and there was those from Russia who, back in the day when the Syrian war was raging, were traveling from Russia to Syria to fight on the side of the Islamic State there. So certainly there is a presence, but how big that network is, I cannot say. It doesn't seem like it is very advanced, so they would have had to cross the border, possibly from Tajikistan or maybe from Uzbekistan, to get to Russia. Beyond rhetoric, how will the Kremlin most likely respond to this attack? Well, the immediate response was difficult. Nobody expected it. I don't know at what point the FSB knew that something is being planned. As I said, they claim to have prevented another possible shooting by the Islamic State just on March 8th. Therefore, I think the immediate response, they did what they could do. What will happen next is, of course, of a question we've heard President Putin saying that these militants wanted to go to Ukraine, to cross the Ukrainian border. So I suppose there will be investigations in terms of what links do these militants have. Do they have any links to Ukraine? Who is actually backing them? Because the Islamic State could be behind the attacks, but is it just the Islamic State or are there any potential groups involved in this? Our thanks, as always, to a military analyst Marina Muran from King's College. Thank you for having me.