Director of the Russian Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Bodies and Special Services of the CIS member states in Bishkek that we can confidently say that Ukraine’s military intelligence is directly involved in the terrorist act in the Crocus City Hall.
“The investigation is continuing, but we can already say with certainty that Ukraine’s military intelligence is directly involved in this attack,” Alexander Bortnikov said.
The head of the FSB said that the whole circle of those involved in the attack was being established. More than 20 people have already been detained, including the direct perpetrators and accomplices.
According to him, two of the four participants in the attack arrived in Russia from Turkey shortly before the attack. One of the detainees admitted that he flew from there on 4 March and was offered half a million roubles for killing people.
Another defendant, Faridun Shamsiddin, published photos from Istanbul on social networks in February. Eight photos are dated the same day – 23 February, almost all of them are geolocated: “Aksaray, Istanbul”. Among them there are photos of Shamsiddin himself and footage allegedly taken at the Fatih mosque.
Bortnikov added that the preparation, financing, attack and withdrawal of the terrorists were coordinated via the Internet by militants of the Wilayat Khorasan group from the Afghan-Pakistani zone.
“Upon completion of the sortie, the terrorists received a clear command to move towards the Ukrainian border, where a ‘window’ was prepared from that side,” he explained.
The FSB director is convinced that one of the goals of the orderers of the terrorist attack was to damage the relations of the CIS countries using religious and national factors.
“I want to assure that all the circumstances of the crime will be established and everyone involved will not escape punishment,” Bortnikov concluded.
The terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall took place on 22 March. The attackers opened fire from automatic weapons on the people in the building and set fire to the auditorium, killed 145 people.
Recall, earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that the Russian security agencies will find all the customers of the terrorist attack in the “Crocus City Hall”.
