Some members of the “inner circle” around Vladimir Putin would have contested the Ukrainian lead proposed by the Russian president for the attack on Crocus City Hall. At least according to what Bloomberg writes, citing “four people who have close ties to the Kremlin”. A version denied by Moscow, which defined it as “the mother of all fake news”.
According to the American agency, some close collaborators pointed out to Putin that there is no evidence of Kiev's role in the massacre, but the head of the Kremlin «remained determined to use the tragedy to try to unite the Russians in supporting the war in Ukraine”. The same sources would have revealed that the state leaders were “shocked by the failure of the security services to prevent Friday's attack”. This is “the mother of all fake news”, replied the spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, according to whom “it is a lucky coincidence” that the Bloomberg article came out on the same day as the head of the Council of National Security Nikolai Patrushev and the director of the security services (FSB), Nikolai Bortnikov, “spoke about the involvement of the USA, Great Britain and Ukraine in the tragic event at Crocus City Hall”. Zakharova reiterated what she had already said in recent days, underlining that the fact that, “even before the flames were put out” at the Crocus City Hall, the USA “began shouting that it wasn't Ukraine” can be considered “a proof of guilt.”
Zelensky in the trenches: surprise visit to the new Ukrainian fortifications
Meanwhile, the sad pilgrimage of the relatives of the victims not yet identified continues in the morgues in search of confirmation of the death of their loved ones. The Emergencies Ministry said the number of confirmed deaths in the shooting and fire that destroyed the concert hall had risen to 143. But only 84 of them have been given a name so far, the Investigative Committee said. Of these, five are minors, between 9 and 16 years of age. According to Baza, a media close to the security services, there are however another 95 missing, whose names do not appear in the official list of victims but whose families have had no news since the evening of March 22nd. If these new figures were to be confirmed, the overall toll from the massacre would exceed 230 deaths.
The Investigative Committee announced that, at the request of some deputies and authoritative public figures, it will launch an investigation into the role of European countries and the USA in the “organisation, financing and execution of terrorist acts against Russia”. The Attorney General said the same, without specifically referring to Friday's attack, but underlining that the investigations will concern, among other things, an “act of international terrorism, namely the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, with traces leading to people and facilities in the USA, Germany, France and Cyprus.”
Bombings on Kharkiv: blocks of flats hit. The authorities: “There are many dead and injured”
In the meantime, the Russian authorities are trying to defuse the population's possible hostility towards the many immigrants from the former Asian Soviet republics, after it became known that the four arrested on charges of being the perpetrators of the massacre are Tajiks. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, accused “enemies” of trying to foment ethnic and religious divisions between Christians and Muslims. But he assured that such efforts will shatter “the moral unity of Orthodox Christians and Muslims.” Immigrants, however, Kirill warned, must “respect the cultural foundations” of Russia.
The FSB and the forces of the Ministry of the Interior have meanwhile made it known that in the Rostov-on-Don region they have arrested six members of an “extremist organisation” called Alla-Ayat, banned in Russia, for having carried out recruitment work among the local population. “The criminal activity of the extremist cell was coordinated from abroad,” security forces said. Putin, meanwhile, has arrived in the Tver region of northwestern Russia on his first trip since the March 15-17 elections.
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Russia: Putin, he won't fight against NATO, just nonsense
Russia has no intention of fighting with NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this by stating that “this is just nonsense, the difference in military spending is large”. Ria Novosti reports it. Putin recalled that “in 2022 the United States spent 811 billion dollars on military spending, while Russia spent 72 billion”. “The statements heard in the West about Russia's alleged plans to attack Europe after Ukraine are nonsense aimed at intimidating the populations of European countries,” Putin added.
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