Moscow tries to link West to organizing terrorist attacks in Russia
Russia's Investigative Committee and Prosecutor General's Office will consider the State Duma's request to investigate the alleged financing and organization of terrorist attacks against Russia by the West, including the United States.
The Institute for the Study of War believes that the Kremlin's goal is to strengthen domestic support for the war against Ukraine.
This is reported with reference to the ISW report.
The Russian Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Duma do not directly mention the attack on Crocus City Hall, the Institute notes.
The Kremlin has previously claimed the alleged involvement of Ukraine and the West in the terrorist attack but has not yet filed official charges. The ISW believes that Moscow may refrain from making official accusations, as all available evidence continues to indicate that the Islamic State (ISIS) is most likely responsible for the attack.
Russian officials regularly describe Ukraine's attacks on legitimate military targets in the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine and in Russia as terrorism and consistently claim that Western actors help organize these strikes.
"The Kremlin likely aims to seize on wider Russian social fears and anger following the Crocus City Hall attack by portraying Ukraine, the US, and the West as immediate terrorist threats," the report says.
According to the experts, the Kremlin probably hopes that the perception of Ukraine and the West's involvement in the attack will strengthen domestic support for the war against Ukraine, and Russian officials will likely try to use a broader view of what is considered terrorism to blame Ukraine and the West.
The Institute believes that the Kremlin could still officially blame Ukraine for the attack in Moscow if it believes that its information efforts are not enough to provoke the domestic reaction it needs.
As a reminder, on the evening of Friday, March 22, several armed men in camouflage opened fire at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, Moscow region. According to the latest Russian data, 143 people died as a result of the attack.
