Tue 09 April 2024:

Russia claimed on Monday that investigators working on the March 22 terrorist attack on the Crocus City concert hall in Moscow region obtained evidence about the involvement of Ukraine’s intelligence in the affair.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement that the information allows to speak about Ukraine’s involvement in preparation of the attack.

“Investigators have already received significant data on the circumstances of the preparation of terrorists for a crime, which may testify for their connection with the Ukrainian special services,” it said.

The head of the committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, ordered investigators to thoroughly study the causes and conditions of the crime, it said.

At least 144 people were killed and more than 550 others injured when gunmen opened fire at the concert venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast. Russia has charged four people for being directly involved in the attack.

Chinese state, social media echo

In China, an editorial in the state-run Global Times insinuated that “many observers linked the incident to the ‘hybrid war’ form of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

“Some Western thinkers have begun to speculate whether Washington had played a role in this terrorist attack,” it said without elaborating.

Without citing names or clear attribution, the Global Times repeated Russia’s false accusations that the U.S. failed to share “key intelligence” that could have helped Russian security services prevent the attack.

The Global Times also criticized Washington for being “slow to condemn the incident in a timely manner, which shocked the international community.”

Since the attack, Chinese social media have dominated the narrative on Weibo, typically boosted by anonymous pro-Russian and pro-Chinese influencers with millions of followers.

Weibo influencer Drunk Rabbit posted to his nearly half a million followers: “It is no wonder that the Russian people do not believe that this was done by IS. They all firmly believe that Ukraine and its masters who are at war with Russia planned and carried out this atrocity.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22