RTTue, 16 Apr 2024 10:44 UTC
© Sputnik/Victor TolochkoRussian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev.
Everyone involved in the March 22 massacre will be held accountable, Nikolay Patrushev has said
Russian investigators have confirmed that there is a link between the perpetrators of last month's terrorist attack in Moscow and Ukrainian nationalists, the secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev has said.
He reiterated Moscow's suspicions about Ukraine's role in the Crocus City Hall atrocity, in which over 140 people were killed.
"During the investigation, the link between the perpetrator of this terrorist attack and Ukrainian nationalists has been confirmed," Patrushev said during a meeting of the body.
Four suspected gunmen were arrested in a Russian region bordering Ukraine hours after the mass murder they are accused of committing.
Russian officials previously described them as radical Islamists and claimed that a money trail connected them to Ukrainian nationalists. The group was instructed by their handler to flee across the border, investigators have claimed.
Patrushev reiterated his country's pledge to hold every person responsible for the crime accountable."The perpetrators, accomplices and organizers of the monstrous bloody terrorist attack, affiliated individuals, wherever they hide and however they try to cover their tracks, will face deserved punishment," he said.
Kiev, which initially claimed that Moscow itself had staged the massacre, has denied any involvement. Its Western backers maintain that all evidence they have is pointing to ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the once-powerful international terrorist organization Islamic State, as the culprit. The group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Moscow has accused Kiev of being behind a number of targeted assassinations and bombing attacks on its soil, some of which Ukrainian special services have acknowledged as their operations.
According to Russian officials, Ukraine is resorting to terrorism because it cannot prevail on the battlefield even with the unprecedented amount of Western assistance it has been receiving.
Comment: An alternative Crocus City Hall terrorist attack hypothesis has links to older articles about the attack.
From the same source:
13 Apr, 2024 19:58
Russia demands West help find Moscow terror attack masterminds
Attempts by the US and its allies to shield Kiev from the Crocus City Hall inquiry look suspicious, Vassily Nebenzia has said
Russia expects Washington and its allies to cooperate with its investigation aimed at identifying the masterminds behind the deadly Moscow terror attack that took place in March, the nation's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said on Friday.
The attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue, which is located just outside Moscow, claimed more than 140 lives. Four gunmen stormed the building, shooting everyone in sight before setting it on fire. A total of 11 suspects were arrested in the wake of the rampage, including the four alleged assailants.
Russian officials described the perpetrators as radical Islamists but stated that the crime may have been organized by Ukrainian security services, who used the terrorists as proxies. On Friday, Nebenzia said that the extensive effort made by the US and its allies to draw attention away from Ukraine only reinforces suspicions about Western involvement.
"Amid such relentless attempts to pin the blame on ISIS and shield Kiev at any cost... a question about Western security services' involvement in orchestrating this terrorist attack remains open," the diplomat said, referring to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), an international terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the massacre. Western media repeatedly pointed to these claims while reporting on the incident.
Moscow has "no doubts" that Ukraine was "directly involved in this despicable and egregious crime," Russia's UN envoy said, adding that investigators already have enough evidence for such a conclusion.
Earlier in April, Russia's Investigative Committee said that a potential link between Ukrainian security services and the March attack had been uncovered. The statement cited "significant evidence" of Kiev's involvement but did not provide any specific details.
Investigators recently claimed to have found a money trail linking the alleged terrorists to Ukrainian nationalists. Russia's FSB security agency also released records of interrogations of the suspected gunmen, who claimed that they had been given instructions to flee towards the Ukrainian border after the strike.
"We expect our Western colleagues to cooperate on detaining the masterminds behind the Crocus City Hall terrorist attacks and bringing them to justice," Nebenzia said on Friday, adding that Moscow also would like to see the West aid its investigation of the Nord Stream pipelines explosions that took place in autumn 2022. After all, Western nations "unequivocally condemned" both attacks, the diplomat added.
See also:
France rejecting antiterrorism cooperation - Moscow
Loose cannon: Macron's stance on Russia causing 'unease' among officialsFor other instances of Western bias:
IAEA boss: No Russian heavy weapons at Zaporozhye plant
Although there are Russian "armored vehicles and some security presence at the plant," IAEA monitors did not see any prohibited weapons, such as multiple rocket launchers, tanks, and artillery, Grossi explained.
He added that the IAEA does not have the mandate to determine which side has been attacking the facility, and argued that "indisputable evidence" is needed to establish who is responsible.
Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council [...]
"With the connivance of its Western sponsors, Ukraine is systematically carrying out irresponsible and reckless attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and the adjacent territory. The Russian Armed Forces recorded and suppressed more than a hundred unmanned aerial vehicles in week.
Our Western colleagues, without noticing it themselves, spoke out today in the form of an ultimatum: "Transfer control of the Zaporizhia NPP, and then they will stop shelling it." Thus, they not only betrayed the Zelensky regime, but also actually admitted to complicity in these irresponsible attacks.
Western demands for UN to discuss Iran attack are 'hypocrisy' - Moscow
Failure to condemn the Israeli bombing of Tehran's consulate in Syria spurred the latest violence, Russia's ambassador has argued...
The UN Security Council helped give rise to Saturday's Iranian attack against Israel by hypocritically failing to take action over the illegal bombing that provoked the latest violence in the region, Russia's ambassador to the global body has claimed.
[...]
Nebenzia contrasted the council's concern over protecting Western nations and their allies with its inaction when Israel bombed Iran's consulate:
"We know very well that an attack against a diplomatic representation is a casus belli under international law. And if a Western representation had been hit, you would immediately have rained down reprisals.
"When it comes to other countries, their rights - including the right to self-defense - well, that's a different matter, as you like to say... What we're witnessing is a display of hypocrisy and double standards that is almost embarrassing to watch."
The US, UK, and France essentially declined to confirm that the basic principles of international law concerning diplomatic facilities apply equally to all states, Nebenzia said. At the same time, Israel has faced no consequences for disregarding UN resolutions, including last month's demand for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The ambassador said:
"We think it's urgent for the entire international community to undertake all efforts necessary to deescalate the situation. Otherwise, the region could be drawn into a vicious cycle of mutual attacks and violence."
Western business as usual since many years.
Comment: An alternative Crocus City Hall terrorist attack hypothesis has links to older articles about the attack.
From the same source:
13 Apr, 2024 19:58
Russia demands West help find Moscow terror attack masterminds See also: France rejecting antiterrorism cooperation - Moscow
Loose cannon: Macron's stance on Russia causing 'unease' among officials
For other instances of Western bias:
IAEA boss: No Russian heavy weapons at Zaporozhye plant Western demands for UN to discuss Iran attack are 'hypocrisy' - Moscow Western business as usual since many years.