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Russian officials knew about the terrorist attack that was in development and terrorists’ specific plans
This was stated by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Kyrylo Budanov at the Third International Strategic Communications Forum, according to the report of the press service of the Ministry of Defense.
“At least, since February 15, 2024, the Russian Federation had been aware about the plot. I will tell you more, this information passed through their intelligence station in Syria. From there it was forwarded to Moscow. So they shouldn’t be telling tales that this all materialized in a strange way out of nowhere,” Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Kyrylo Budanov claimed.
In his following comment, Budanov analyzed the Kremlin’s motives for Russia’s inactivity.
“Why did they allow this to happen? There are several options. The first is, as is customary among them, a infighting between ‘Kremlin towers’ to remove several high-ranking officials now. Another option is that they actually underestimated the scale of what would happen. They thought that the incident would be more local, and wanted to blame Ukraine for everything,” said the intelligence chief.
He emphasized that the Kremlin had already changed three versions of what took place at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, desperately trying to invent a story with a “Ukrainian trace”.
On March 22, terrorists staged a mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the suburbs of Moscow. They killed 143 people and wounded 180.
ISIS took the responsibility for the shooting. However, Moscow has been spreading propaganda about the US, the UK and Ukraine’s colluding to orchestrate the attack, though the US Intelligence had warned about a possible provocation or terrorist attack in Russia and urged people to avoid crowds.
Read also: No evidence Ukraine involved in terrorist attack in Russia — EU
