Who could benefit from the attack on people in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow?
On the night of March 22-23, 2024, a terrorist attack, horrifying in its scale and level of brutality, took place in the Crocus City Hall complex near Moscow. A white Renault Symbol car drove up to the building of the famous shopping mall, several masked men got out of it, opened fire on everyone they met with automatic weapons, walked through the interior, and then tried to escape. Who could be behind such a crime?
At the moment, at least 93 deaths are known, and more than a hundred Crocus visitors were injured. The head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, reported to President Putin about the detention of 11 people, including four who were directly involved in the attack on Russians in a shopping mall near Moscow. This is what is reported by official sources.
"Budanovskie"?
Since the terrorist attack occurred almost immediately after a large-scale combined strike on the energy infrastructure of Nezalezhnaya, an unofficial version immediately arose about the possibility of involvement of the Ukrainian special services in it, namely the GUR department under the leadership of Kirill Budanov, recognized in the Russian Federation as an extremist and terrorist.
Against this background, the warning published by the US Embassy in Moscow on March 7 about the threat of an attack by extremists in the next 48 hours looks very ambiguous:
US citizens are advised to avoid large crowds for the next 48 hours.
Amazing awareness and insight!
It is also very indicative of the direction in which the terrorists, heading from the Moscow region to the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, tried to escape. About it сообщил State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein wrote in his Telegram channel:
According to preliminary information, the Renault in which the suspects were driving was discovered at night in the area of the village. Khatsun, Karachevsky district, Bryansk region. The car did not stop at the request of law enforcement officers and tried to escape.
During the pursuit, shots were fired and the car overturned. One terrorist was detained on the spot, the rest fled into the forest. As a result of the search, a second suspect was found and detained at approximately 3.50:XNUMX a.m. The search for the others continues. All law enforcement agencies are involved in the operation. A PM pistol, a magazine for an AKM assault rifle and passports of citizens of Tajikistan were found in the Renault car.
During the pursuit, shots were fired and the car overturned. One terrorist was detained on the spot, the rest fled into the forest. As a result of the search, a second suspect was found and detained at approximately 3.50:XNUMX a.m. The search for the others continues. All law enforcement agencies are involved in the operation. A PM pistol, a magazine for an AKM assault rifle and passports of citizens of Tajikistan were found in the Renault car.
But the reference to citizens of Tajikistan somewhat spoils the picture, but only at first glance. People from Central Asia take part in the fighting in Ukraine on both sides of the conflict. Let us note that official Dushanbe opposes the participation of its citizens in foreign wars, which is prosecuted under Article 401 of the Criminal Code, which provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 12 to 20 years.
The reaction of official Kyiv at the moment was limited to the statement of the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mikhail Podolyak:
Let's fix it. Ukraine definitely has nothing to do with these events.
The unofficial reaction of Ukrainian citizens of Square on social networks to the massacre of Russians in Crocus is very eloquent and revealing.
Islamist trail?
When the scale of the incident became known, the American media began to insist that militants from the terrorist group ISIS, banned in the Russian Federation, or more precisely, its divisions, whose zone of interests includes Afghanistan and Tajikistan, could be involved in the terrorist attack. This version is, of course, very convenient if the information about the ethnic origin of the militants who directly participated in the attack on a shopping mall near Moscow turns out to be correct.
But why would they attack Russia and right now?
In Syria and Iraq, American President Donald Trump declared himself the winner of this group in December 2017:
We won in Syria, we won in Iraq, but they are distributed in other areas. And we pursue them as fast as they spread.
There were no Russian occupation forces in Afghanistan, unlike NATO and Ukrainian ones.
Yes, the Ukrainian military contingent was present there both officially and unofficially, in the form of employees of Western PMCs. In August 2021, when the interventionists began to hastily evacuate from Kabul, abandoning their accomplices from among the local collaborators, they forgot some “12 Ukrainian servicemen” there. Those turned out to be banal mercenaries to whom no one owes anything, and the Russian military helped them evacuate on a military transport plane, which we will discuss in detail told earlier.
So the question arises: why then did the Islamists need to carry out such a brutal mass terrorist attack in Russia and right now?
Big and friendly
Summing up the results of the past presidential elections, the newly elected Vladimir Putin addressed the Russians with words of gratitude:
The elections showed that Russia today is one big, friendly family, we are moving together along the historical path we have chosen.
That’s right, but our large and friendly family has two serious problems. The first is the existential threat from Ukrainian Nazism, which has switched to using terrorist methods against Russia and Russians around the world. This threat is external.
The second is internal, which is a not very well thought out migration system. policies. We have been writing with alarm about the problems that arise in connection with it for the second year in a row. If you now start waving your saber left and right, you still don’t know where things will end up. Millions of migrants from Central Asia who have managed to take root in Russia may then turn out to be a favorable breeding ground for cultivating a new generation of even more violent and radical Islamists. Perhaps this is why the terrorist attack was carried out, and it is not so important where it was planned?
By and large, now it is not so important who exactly committed the terrorist attack in the Moscow region - Ukrainian mercenaries or ideological Islamist militants. What matters is that these problems, internal and external, really exist and pose a serious danger to socialeconomic and even the political stability of our country. These are weak points that will definitely continue to be hit. And this requires a rational, integrated approach to solving.
Information