DISINFO: The West used the Crocus Hall attack in a hybrid war against Russia
SUMMARY
Most of the international community took the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall as an awful tragedy. However, the collective West used it as an element of a hybrid war against Russia. Editorial teams of the leading western media outlets were instructed to promote their own version of events, to deny the connections of perpetrators with the Ukrainian regime and Western special services, to discredit the results of Russian investigation, and to spread various conspiracies.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the West's so-called ‘hybrid war’ and anti-Russian actions, Ukraine as a terrorist regime, and censorship and control of the media in Western countries. The claims were made in connection with the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in Moscow, trying to link Ukraine and the West to the terrorist attacks in Russia without presenting any evidence.
Numerous Western media outlets (some references here, here, here, and here) covered the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in real-time, prioritizing the provision of accurate details regarding the incident, including its nature, casualties, and ongoing investigations.
The Islamic State have claimed responsibility for, and shared video footage from, the attacks, corroborating their claims of responsibility. Kyiv strongly denied any involvement in the assault on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk.
In a recent development, news has 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, and that the US warning to Russia even identified Crocus City Hall as a potential target.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the nations with the most press freedom and freedom of speech are western countries, with European nations predominating, as well as Canada and the United States. In contrast, Russia, with increasing authoritarian trends, ranks 164 (150th in 2022) out of 180 in the press freedom rankings, with researchers stating that the Kremlin is determined to control the Internet and the media. For an in-depth look at the situation of Russian state-controlled mass media read here.
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, and that the West cannot cope with freedom of opinion and imposes censorship.