DISINFO: Crocus Hall terrorists confess Ukraine was involved in attack
SUMMARY
Terrorists who launched an attack on Crocus City Hall outside Moscow on 22 March 2024 have confessed during interrogations that it was Ukraine which had ordered the massacre. They were told to burn up their car near Ukraine’s border and get there on foot. Some Ukrainians were to meet them there and help them cross the border. The terrorists were to receive one million roubles each upon arrival. Photos of people holding the Ukrainian flag were found in their smartphones, indicating a relationship between the special military operation and the terrorist attack.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative depicting Ukraine as a terrorist regime. The claim was made in connection with the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in Moscow, trying to link Ukraine to the terrorist attacks in Russia without presenting any evidence.
The Islamic State have claimed responsibility for and shared video footage from the attacks, corroborating their claims of responsibility.
The suspects’ evidence about Ukraine's involvement in the Crocus Hall attack was extracted under duress and may therefore be unreliable. There are graphic photos and video recordings showing Russian security officials cutting off part of a detained suspect’s ear and torturing another one with electric current.
In a recent development, news have appeared that Iran had warned Moscow a few days before of an imminent attack by ISIS based on information obtained from arrested ISIS terrorists in Iran.
U.S officials have intelligence that the Islamic State group's Afghan affiliate, IS-Khorasan, is responsible for the Moscow attack. “ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
Even Putin himself acknowledged late on 25 March that Islamists were committing the attack.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Moscow has evidence of the connection between the Crocus City terrorists and Ukraine, that Kyiv is behind the attack at the Crocus in Moscow, and that Ukraine, not ISIS masterminded the Crocus attack.