The Kremlin's attempts to link the terrorist attack in Moscow to Ukraine are predictable. In this way, Putin wants to justify his aggression against the Ukrainian people. But Kyiv had nothing to do with the events of March 22. This was stated by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby, answering questions from journalists during a briefing, UNN reports with reference to Voice of America.
"It shouldn't surprise anyone that Putin and his henchmen in the Kremlin are trying to find a way to attribute this to Ukraine. There is no connection with Ukraine. It was an attack carried out by ISIS-K operatives, period, end of sentence, end of story - no connection with Ukraine. This is another Kremlin propaganda. They're doing everything they can to link this to their actions in Ukraine to scrape together some kind of justification for the ongoing violence and abuse they've been perpetrating against the Ukrainian people for over two years now," Kirby told reporters.
The White House adviser dismissed the potential for a joint fight between Washington and Moscow against ISIS in the near future. He emphasized that the United States was obliged to share the available information about the planned terrorist attack, and now it is Moscow's turn to comment on why the attack eventually took place.
"There will be no security cooperation between Russia and the United States, if that's what you're asking. We had an obligation to warn them and provide information that we had and that they clearly did not have. We did that. Now let them comment on what they did or did not do with that information. But it is obvious that the planned terrorist attack took place," the official explained.
Kirby also emphasized that in addition to the top leadership of the Russian Federation, official Washington has also publicly warned of the threat to Americans in Russia.
"We did warn Russia in early March about a planned terrorist attack. We also issued a public warning to Americans in Russia on March 7. We also stated that ISIS was fully responsible for this attack," Kirby emphasized.
According to a White House spokesperson, U.S. intelligence is actively monitoring ISIS's activities, but as of now, sees no threat to the United States.
It was through active surveillance of ISIS that we were able to warn the Russians about a potential terrorist attack. At the moment, we do not see any serious threat from ISIS to the American homeland. We don't see any immediate real threat to the homeland (USA ed.) from ISIS. But we do not take this lightly and continue to monitor it every day.
In addition to official statements by U.S. intelligence, ISIS militants have also publicly claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack.