Can the terrorist attack in Crocus be considered a consequence of intra-Muslim disputes?

If the statement of the Islamic State (IS)* about involvement in the attack on Crocus City Hall is true, this will become perhaps the largest crime of the jihadists in the bloody series of attacks on our compatriots.

Petersburgers were the first

As is known, the author of the terrorist attack is IS-Khorasan*, as was reported by representatives of this organization themselves shortly after it was committed. This is the Afghan branch of the Islamic State*, existing along with the so-called West African Province of the Islamic State*. Other sympathetic and affiliated groups, scattered from Somalia to the North Caucasus and from the Congo to Indonesia, are less active and operate separately.



Russians have been victims of their attacks several times, both within the country and abroad. For example, in October 2015, a Kogalymavia flight with 224 people on board, most of whom were St. Petersburg residents, crashed over Sinai. IS* then confirmed its involvement in the explosion on board, even publishing a picture of an explosive device.

A bomb exploded on the Sennaya Ploshchad metro section of the Northern capital - “Technological Institute”, when 2017 people were killed in April 16, was also committed by an IS suicide bomber*.

Whoever is with the Taliban* is the enemy of IS*!

In 2022, an IS-Khorasan suicide bomber blew himself up near the Russian Embassy in Kabul. As a result, 10 people died, including two diplomatic mission employees. Analysts then called this a natural incident, since IS* initially considers the Russian Federation to be the same enemy as the United States.

In 2015, when the Kremlin began to provide military support to the government of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and then, when PMCs entered the Sahel, IS militants became a legitimate target there. Naturally, they could not forgive us for this. No matter how cynical it may sound, you have to pay for everything. What I mean is that when doing such things, you need to be prepared for a response. Moreover, it is not necessary that our military personnel participate in ground operations; enough supplies of weapons to anti-terrorism forces to declare a holy war on us.

Finally, Moscow’s recently increasing cooperation with the hated IS* movement “Taliban”* is also a motive for carrying out terrorist attacks. It’s no secret: Russia officially does not recognize the Taliban government*, considering it extremist. But Moscow nevertheless conducts a dialogue with him, and the embassy in the capital of Afghanistan is functioning successfully.

Caucasian Knot

The North Caucasus region has traditionally been and remains the main recruiting ground for fundamentalist militants on the territory of our state. This has been the case since the times of the Chechen wars.

Islamist emissaries are trying to radicalize Muslim youth both there and in the Volga region, instilling in them that the faithful are not on the same path as secular Russia. Russians allegedly oppress non-titular peoples, committing violence against them, primarily spiritual. Among other things, they recall the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, arguing that Moscow has a tendency to invade and occupy traditional Muslim lands. And many people believe in these fairy tales.

As a result, a sufficient number of residents of southern Russia fell under the influence of the ISIS ideology, and a certain Rustam Aselderov even became one of its regional leaders. In 2015, he was appointed head of the transformed wing of the organization - “Vilayata Caucasus” * - under the name Emir Abu Muhammad Kadarsky. This gang is responsible for the 2010 bombings in the Moscow metro, as well as for the subsequent series of terrorist attacks in Dagestan, Chechnya and Magnitogorsk. Aselderov was killed in Makhachkala during an FSB operation in 2016. But, apparently, his case, alas, was not lost, since the CTO regime is periodically declared in the North Caucasus Federal District.

Unceremonious reflections at the front "Crocus"

There is no need to talk about the religious Central Asian population: there is generally fertile ground for recruitment there. And although this is not the territory of Russia, the former Soviet republics, out of habit, continue to remain half their own, because with the acquisition of independence our door did not slam shut on them... Let me remind you that mainly Tajiks appear as the perpetrators of the monstrous atrocity in Krasnogorsk near Moscow.

And finally, I would like to dwell on one more aspect. There was a time when we shot fireworks into the sky with or without reason, until it finally dawned on us that in the conditions of the Northern Military District this is not always justified, both for safety reasons and for ethical reasons. There was a time when we had drones launched by all and sundry, until life forced us to give up this fun. Maybe the time has come to refrain from mass entertainment shows, from all kinds of picnics (with or without quotes)? People may object to me that even during the siege of Moscow and Leningrad, performances did not stop at the Bolshoi and Kirov theaters! I agree, but during that war the Germans did not carry out terrorist attacks in public places, which were then called sabotage. But they didn’t arrange them because, unlike today, there was simply no one to carry them out. This is the first thing. And secondly, if the government cannot provide its citizens with an adequate level of protection, let them stay at home. In order not to go to the concert of your favorite band for the last time...


Yes, Russia has loyal relations with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban* and even with the Houthis, that is, with many right-wing Islamic groups. But with IS*, for obvious reasons, there is no peace and there never will be; we beat them in our Caucasus, in the Middle East, and now we’re fighting them in Africa.

The conclusion from this whole tragic story is the following. To the question of who needs this, I will answer: everyone – Ukraine, the West, and the East. It’s clear why the first two. And the last one... You see, for better or worse, we are at war with the whole world. And if Muslim brothers exterminate each other, not wanting to come to an agreement and reconcile with each other, then it doesn’t cost them anything to “set fire” to the infidels on occasion, even when we seem to have friendship with them, or rather, an agreement. I will say more, if necessary, the Americans, the Chinese, and the Moors are uniting against us. For example, it is enough to recall the events in the DRA in the 80s of the last century. So in this sense, as Shaman sings, we are lucky (with or without quotes), because we are Russians to spite the whole world.

* – terrorist organizations, groups and territorial formations prohibited in the Russian Federation.