Kyiv's Denials Of Involvement Sharpen After Russian Concert Attack

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials on March 23 furiously denied any role by their country in the devastating attack on a Moscow-area concert hall a day earlier that killed at least 133 people and was claimed by the militant group Islamic State (IS), in a message that was also being pushed by Western officials.

After repeated rejections over the previous 24 hours, Zelenskiy issued a video message accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to shift responsibility to others after remaining silent in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy "thinking how to bring this to Ukraine."

"What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious," Zelenskiy said, using an epithet for Putin and his circle, saying they "are just trying to blame someone else."

"They always have the same methods," Zelenskiy added.

In a taped midafternoon address on March 23, Putin decried the violence as a “bloody, barbaric terrorist attack” and alleged Ukrainian involvement.

SEE ALSO: Russia Says 4 Foreign Suspects Detained As Death Toll From Concert Attack Reaches 133

He then repeated earlier suggestions by other Russian officials that four suspected gunmen had been detained, and that some of the perpetrators were arrested in the western Bryansk region, which borders Belarus and Ukraine.

The four “tried to hide and were moving toward Ukraine, where, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared a window for them to cross the border,” Putin said.

Putin provided no evidence to back up the claim.

Other Ukrainian officials had already issued repeated denials beginning soon after the attack.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior Zelenskiy adviser, said in the hours after the incident that his country "has nothing to do with" it and said it had "never used terrorist methods" as it continues to fight a two-year full-scale Russian invasion.

He warned that the deadly incident would "contribute to a sharp increase in military propaganda, accelerated militarization, expanded mobilization, and, ultimately, the scaling up of the war."

The following day, he told Current Time: "First, there are no facts that would in any way indicate a Ukrainian trace. Second, it makes no sense for us to carry out this type of actions. We are a bit busy with different things. A full-scale war is ongoing in our country."

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) then said through spokesperson Andriy Yusov that Putin's assertion "doesn't withstand scrutiny."

The GUR said those border areas are filled with "troops, special agents, representatives of special services, security forces," and "the border is mined, surveillance is carried out in all kinds of ways, including aerial reconnaissance, on both sides."

Ukrainian war planners and special forces are believed to have carried out many more attacks inside Russian territory than they have openly acknowledged, but they have insisted that they pursue military targets as well as supplies and infrastructure for the Russian war effort.

"It already happened," Zelenskiy said in an apparent allusion to previous violent attacks in Russia. "And there were blown-up houses, and shootings, and explosions. And they always blame others."

He likened the accusations to Russian claims in the fighting in Ukraine, where Kyiv and international investigators and rights groups have accused Russian troops of torture and war crimes.

Putin remained silent for at least 16 hours after the attack was launched, only appearing in the recorded message midafternoon on March 23.

"Yesterday, all of this happened, and this worthless Putin, instead of dealing with his Russian citizens, addressing them, was silent for a day, thinking how to bring this to Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.

In a seeming reference to the war in Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that the attack must not become a "pretext" for more "violence."

Islamic State issued a statement of responsibility within hours of the attack and on March 23 published pixelated photos of four men it claimed were the attackers.

The group said they had dealt a "heavy blow" against "Christians" as part of a "raging war" against countries fighting Islam.

"The attack was carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and firebombs," IS said via Telegram.

U.S. officials confirmed the authenticity of the IS claim in comments to multiple U.S. media.

Why Would Islamic State Attack Russia?

On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned Russia that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in the capital.

On the same day as the U.S. Embassy announcement, the Russian Federal Security Service claimed it had stopped an attack on a Moscow synagogue by Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan, known as Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K).

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said again on March 23 that Washington had warned Russia in early March.

In a statement, Watson added, "ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever."

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was quoted by Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper as saying that "According to everything that is known so far, it can be assumed that the terrorist group Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K) is responsible for the murderous terrorist attack near Moscow."