Putin's entourage sees no connection between Ukraine and attack on Moscow - Bloomberg

While Russian dictator Vladimir Putin continues to claim that Ukraine could have been involved in the attack on Moscow that killed 139 people, some of the Kremlin's inner circle disagree, UNN reports citing Bloomberg.

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There is no evidence of Ukrainian involvement, according to four people with close ties to the Kremlin. Putin was present at the discussions, where officials agreed there was no connection to Kyiv, but he remains determined to use the tragedy to try to rally Russians behind the war in Ukraine, according to one person with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.

Kremlin officials were shocked by the inability of security services to prevent an attack on people attending a concert in Moscow's Crocus City Hall. Almost none of their acquaintances among Russia's political and business elite believe that Ukraine was behind the attack, the interlocutors say.

Putin has twice tried to link Ukraine to the worst crime in Moscow in more than two decades, even though the Islamic State has claimed responsibility. On Monday evening, the Russian dictator acknowledged that the attack was carried out by Islamist militants, but told officials in televised comments that "we are interested in who ordered it.

The United States is "trying to convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to its intelligence, there is no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terrorist attack," Putin said at a meeting with security officials.

Ukraine has categorically denied any involvement and called the attack a Kremlin false flag operation, while U.S. officials say the Islamic State is solely responsible.

Putin's main allies are eagerly taking up his theme. This leads to speculation that he may use public anger over the tragedy to intensify the war against Ukraine, including possibly by ordering another mobilization of reservists to join the army.

"Of course, Ukraine," Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's security council, told reporters on Tuesday when asked whether the Islamic State or Ukraine was responsible.

"The security services know that it was the Islamic State, but after Putin's remarks, they have no choice but to follow orders and prove that Ukraine or the West were involved," said Andrey Soldatov, an expert on the FSB and Russian intelligence.

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On March 7, the United States issued a public warning about the risk of an "imminent" terrorist attack in Moscow, particularly at concerts, and said it had shared intelligence with Russia. Putin dismissed it as an attempt to "destabilize our society" at a meeting with FSB officers three days before the militant attack.

According to two people connected with the authorities, Russian security services did not respond in a timely manner to the US warning, and some officials may be removed from their posts in response. The attack could provoke a reshuffle in the leadership of the security agencies, the sources said.

The tragedy has sparked political demands to lift Russia's moratorium on the death penalty, which has been in place since 1996. 

Four men, all from Tajikistan in Central Asia, were charged in a closed hearing on Sunday evening with the attack on the concert hall, and a Moscow court ordered them held in custody until May 22. Three more people were arrested on Monday, and an eighth man was detained on Tuesday.

During a meeting with security chiefs, Putin asked why radical Islamists were attacking Russia when "it supports a just solution" to the conflict in the Middle East, and asked how they could justify committing atrocities during the holy month of Ramadan. He also criticized the government in Kyiv and its "Western patrons.

the fsb detained four suspects in the Bryansk region of russia, allegedly on their way to ukraine. Although he did not directly accuse Ukrainian authorities of involvement in the attack, Putin said on Saturday that a "window" had been prepared for the men to cross the border.

However, even his closest ally, the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, seems to undermine Putin's claim that the suspects were trying to flee to Ukraine.

Lukashenko told reporters on Tuesday that the suspects were initially heading toward Belarus until they saw that border security had been tightened, "so they turned around and went toward" Ukraine.