Home » The Moscow massacre: who are the perpetrators?

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The Moscow massacre: who are the perpetrators? — 61 Comments

  1. As a Russian, I am firmly convinced that the perp is Putin.
    In Russia, those allegations aren’t “conspiracy theories”. They are basic common sense, and have been since the commies’ rise to power. Creating problems in order to emerge as problem solvers is their essential and basic business model.
    Particularly, very few people doubt that Putin blew up two apartment buildings in Moscow in 1999 after bags of a military-grade explosive marked “sugar” were found during an “anti-terrorist force” exercise in a similar building in Ryazan. Google or Bing “Ryazan sugar”.

  2. The arrested men have been identified by name, and all are citizens of Tadjikistan.

    This being Russia, a false flag operation is certainly possible, but so also is an attack by ISIS-K based in Afghanistan.

    There are many who would take advantage of the situation while not necessarily having contributed in any way to the planning and execution of the attack.

  3. As of the pictures posted by ISIS-K, I wouldn’t rule out a scenario in which they were _traded_ to them by the actual organizers (aka FSB), perhaps in exchange for certain favors in the Central Asian region, or simply as a gesture to establish ties with the only force capable of challenging the Taliban. Divide et impera, all that.

    Not that I liked complex explanations, but I can’t imagine how the Russian and ISIS-K spheres of interest would intersect otherwise. “K” stands for “Khorasan province”. Khorasan is a part of Iran plus a part of Afghanistan. Moscow is related to it almost as much as it is to Nigeria, where local Islamic madmen operate under an ISIS brand as well.

  4. P.S. There are over a million “citizens of Tajikistan” in Moscow, and another couple million citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, indistinguishable from the former by an untrained eye. They are as omnipresent as Hispanics in Texas and Cali, and occupy the same “ecological niche”.

    If the goal was linking the attack to the “Islamic factor”, grabbing three random Tajiks and saying “they did it” was the most natural thing for the FSB to do.

  5. except it doesn’t match isis k tactics, meaning martyrdom attacks, yes tadjikistan was a contested area, 30 years ago, but not now, of course chalk it up to the ‘cycle of violence’ which is a real thing in Russia, see the black widows,

  6. I don’t have a clue. Tajiks are ethnic Persians, but I don’t know if that means anything in this instance.

  7. they are adjacent to Afghanistan, which is the basis of the Taliban emirate, I would have expected Chechens or Syrians, since their grievances are more recent,
    you have either cross the Caspian, or go around it, through the Steppes westward, seems like the long way around

  8. I think Chechens did it. Always a safe bet to blame Chechens for the terroristic massacre of Russians. To Chechens, Putin — or any Russian ruler — is the Padishah Emperor, the enemy of their blood.

  9. Attacking western culture gatherings is at least a Islamic terror motive.
    Of course at least right away Putin would try and use it as his war Propaganda, but see if the Russians go after a Muslim group or area shortly.

    I did after hearing who was to play this concert, group is Picnic and I like their sound, no idea of lyrics as they sing in Russian.

  10. More fruits from the Biden-Blinken-Obama axis of international stability destruction.

    Neo, thank you for opening up with the first claim by ISIS in and around Afghanistan, and the follow up.

    You don’t mention that the US warned Americans to avoid large groups and concerts in Moscow some days ago.

    Thus, I think the culprits are nailed down. And in no serious doubt. Except for Biden-Blinken-Obama, who of courses escape naming in the Greater Policy Accomplishment.

  11. The same us govt that is schewing any proper terminology here or abroad

  12. I don’t recall Putin dropping anything serious on anybody after the Beslan massacre. It couldn’t have been that the perps were unknown, or their origin and paymasters.
    Anybody know anything about Russian responses then?

  13. T J:

    You write: “You don’t mention that the US warned Americans to avoid large groups and concerts in Moscow some days ago.”

    But actually, I did refer to it. Here’s the paragraph that dealt with it; you have the time frame wrong because it wasn’t just a few days earlier. I said they warned Putin, which I think is most relevant to the post – but they also warned Americans, according to the link in the paragraph:

    Another fact pointed out and made much of is the idea that the US warned Putin of a threatened attack (perhaps targeting concerts) and he pooh-poohed it. However, that was two weeks prior to the attack itself, and the warning specifically stated that it was for 48 hours, and that period was certainly over by the time of the attack.

  14. I’m nor Putin, and I don’t run the FSB.
    But if the 48 hours passed with no difficulties, I don’t think I’d stand down my overtime guys right away. Might keep some investigations going.
    Presuming all is just dan and finedy wouldn’t be my guess in hour forty-nine

  15. I don’t care who did it – too bad it wasn’t a 100,000 Russian troops and/or civilians…or more.

    Ukraine should be given the opportunity to strike further into Russia, and make living in European Russia difficult for Russians civilians – like the way Russians have done to Ukrainians since 2022.

  16. ISW – March 23, 2024

    • ISW assesses that the Islamic State (IS) is very likely responsible for the Crocus City Hall attack. IS Amaq’s News Agency took responsibility for the attack on the night of March 22, claiming that IS fighters attacked a “large gathering of Christians” on the outskirts of Moscow, “killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction…before they [the attackers] withdrew to their bases safely.”

    • IS media organs make deceptive or false claims only ”infrequently” and carefully and try to maintain “high credibility” in their communique in order to define clear ideological objectives and maintain fundraising streams. IS propaganda enables the group to fundraise and disseminate its guidance to lower-level commanders and supporters–IS risks discrediting itself within the competitive Salafi-jihadi community by falsely taking credit for very high-profile attacks.

    • Allegations that the Crocus City Hall attack was a false flag operation are inconsistent with the evidence ISW has observed from the attack itself correlated with other reports of previous IS external attacks that ISW and CTP have covered since the emergence of the Islamic State, as well as the IS claim pattern following the attack. It is also highly unlikely that IS would have conducted the attack on the orders of Ukrainian special services, which several Russian sources have alleged. Amaq News Agency is IS’s central media arm. IS would not falsely claim an attack that may have been conducted by one Christian state against another (or by the Kremlin against Russia’s own people in some sort of false-flag operation), because the implications of IS conducting an attack at the behest of a predominantly Christian country would damage IS credentials within the Salafi-Jihadi community.

  17. Doing the math: vast natural resources + Putin hysteria + Putin’s determination =
    ==
    He’ll build up his army so it’s just as effective as it was in the Ukraine in February 2022.
    ==
    While we’re at it, annual fuel and mineral exports from Russia have bounced around $250 bn in recent years, about the same as Saudi Arabia’s. Canada’s have been in the range of $160 bn a year.

  18. A decade or two ago it was the American left supporting Russia, and now a majority of the American Right is the group supporting Russia. Some things change over time—others don’t. Russia has made many enemies over the centuries, and the list grew in 2022 when Russia reinvaded Ukraine.

    Prior to that reinvasion, Colonel-General Ivashov (RUS Retd) & Mikhail Khodaryonok (RUS military journalist) were issuing warnings about pariah status Russia was about to enter – “pariah of the world community.”

    Russia’s DNA & External Expansion modus operandi

    Colonel-General Ivashov (RUS Retd) – 1/31/2022 ‘On the Eve of War?’:

    SNIP .. But this threat is internal and stems from the model of government, the quality of the leadership and the state of society. And the causes of this threat are also internal: The model of government is not viable, leaders and administrators are totally incompetent and unprofessional, while society is passive and disorganized. No country can live long in such a state.

    Mikhail Khodaryonok (RUS military journalist) – 12/16/2021 Are dreams of Russia’s expansion feasible?

    Russia will expand its territory by gathering lands and spaces, since constant expansion is not just one of the ideas, but the true existential of our historical existence. This opinion is expressed by individual representatives of the political class of the country.

    In their opinion, for centuries the Russian state, with its harsh and inactive political interior, was preserved solely due to the relentless striving beyond its own borders. It has long forgotten how, and most likely never knew how to survive in other ways.

    External expansion, Russian thinkers believe, serves to defuse the internal tension that accumulates in society and which in no case should be released into the wild through liberal experiments.

  19. Ukrainians doing or sponsoring a terror attack doesn’t seem like a good idea short of something that would actually cripple Russia. Of course, Putin having anything to do with it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either, unless he wants some excuse to shift focus from the war in Ukraine, but that also doesn’t make much sense either.

  20. Even if the perpetrators are exactly what they seem, they are still useful to the Russian war effort. Expect “confessions” any day now that they had contacts and safe houses in Ukraine.

  21. Yes but it doesnt make sense there are some crimean tatars who are allied with ukraine

    After 20 years of forever war that ended in capitulation one is skeptical of new crusades specially when the regime is persecuting the bravest fighters

    The current organs dont even care to name the nature of our adversary instead they are pursuing ergonokon thats what an occupying satrap would do

    As phillip short has pointed out some of the stories re putin dont really pan out but he lets them circulate

  22. now General Ivashov who was a veteran of the invasion of czechoslovakia, and notably the three months siege of praha, that took 500,000 warsaw pact troops, did know something about strategy, another who was a veteran of that conflict was future Spetznaz operative and defector, Victor Suvorov nee Rezin,

    we weren’t very clear on the Western front,
    either, Afghanistan was seen as a way to repay Soviet injuries against us in Vietnam, perhaps for the British their losses in Aden,

    when Marshal Ustinov, no relation ventured into Afghanistan, in part to quell the uprising of Ismail Khan, he didn’t know what he was doing either, he was encouraged by the turmoil farther west, with the fall of the Shah, that unleashed other djinns like the Ayatollah, and encouraged the pyrrhic victory of Juhayman, who inspired Bin Laden,

  23. *Expect “confessions” any day now that they had contacts and safe houses in Ukraine.*

    Yea, there are already videos on Internet showing one guy’s ear cut off and another one being tortured with an old inductor phone’s wires to his genitals.

    The Russians post these with pride.

  24. What IS strange is the disconnect between the videos of the massacre clearly showing well-trained murderers and the videos of the captured ones, who look like typical gastarbeiters, of which Russia has plenty.

    “I was promised 500,000 rubles” says one. $5500? Seriously?

  25. I’m pretty sure it was Central Asian friends and affiliates of ISIS.

    This has some similarity to the 2002 Moscow Theater attack and hostage crisis, perpetrated by Chechens (This “Nord-Ost” attack inspired the opening of the movie “Tenet”)

    Putin’s reaction reminds me of when the Spanish prime minister tried to blame Basques for the 2004 Madrid train bombings committed by Islamic terrorists. The election was three days later and he and his party were thrown out of office.

    I listened to Ben Lerner’s “To the Atocha Station” on audiobook. The terror attack features at the end of the book, but most of it was about his relationships with two women who didn’t seem to be fully realized characters or that much different. I remember the narrator’s wondering if he ever had an “aesthetic experience.” I sort of understand what he meant, but it was a strange admission in a novel by someone whose whole life has been literature. I also remember the narrator mentioning “Topíca” a lot. I assumed it was a trendy upscale Madrid bar or restaurant or club or boutique. Some time later I realized he was talking about Topeka, Kansas, his home town.

  26. there was a similar instance to atocha back in 1986, at the restaurant at the Torrejon Airbase, as El Descanso, as Saul Montes Bradley investigated they were both the work of the same man, Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, who also had a part in the London train bombing, it had been chalked up to Hezbollah back then,

    its not as great a horror as Beslan, which turned out to have more than a few other Caucasus players in the story, from the Ingush and other tribes,

  27. Garry Kasparov, at the WSJ today:

    Paranoia is my birthright, as it is for anyone born in the Soviet Union. But the official Kremlin story line is already a shambles. In one of the most surveilled cities on earth, where you can be arrested in 30 seconds for whispering “no war,” the terrorists continued their attack for more than an hour and then simply drove away.

    The FSB, Russia’s state security service, claims to have arrested four suspects near Ukraine, at one of the most fortified borders in the world. Or did the suspects actually drive to Russian ally Belarus, as that nation’s ambassador to Russia said? Considering the amount of materiel and preparation required to do so much damage to a venue the size of a small village, it’s odd that the terrorists would suddenly turn into bungling amateurs by carrying their Tajik passports and heading to a militarized border.

    Every official statement from the Kremlin and its propagandists will be a lie, with a few half-truths tossed in. It’s a control reflex of the security state of which Mr. Putin is a product. As I often say, I believe in coincidences, but I also believe in the KGB.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/moscow-attack-dont-believe-the-kremlin-isis-terrorists-civilian-deaths-putin-995046e5?mod=hp_opin_pos_4#cxrecs_s

  28. yes Belarus seems unlikely, maybe if they were headed for the Swedish border,
    the ancient enemy of Russia, why not south to Chechnya, but there is that ‘mystery wrapped inside an enigma, inside a riddle’

    Motives could be seen with those who were subject in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, the proving grounds of Surovikin among others

  29. “…now a majority of the American Right is the group supporting Russia.”– Karmi

    How do you arrive at that statistic? How is “supporting Russia” evidenced?

  30. *If they were headed for the Swedish border,*

    Interesting idea, considering Russia does not have land border with Sweden.

  31. much as he misunderstands monotheism, yes follow the banners of marvelous milley who is kind of a penzance character, in the way he rises higher as each intervention, fails more successively, you see how General Flynn perhaps the ablest military intelligence professional we had in a generation, has been driven out of polite society,
    this anglo American powerbloc that included the likes of Professor Christopher Andrew
    let he be slandered along with miss Lokhova, the whistleblower of the corrupt Sberbank,
    while they gave an actual Russian agent Peter Dobbins in the Special Forces, free reign

    of Mattis Kelley, and co, little need be added, the former found a nice sinecure at Brookings repeating invocations in Mandarin or Arabic if needs must, and the latter got a gig managing the invasion at Calibur along with other heads of the Camarilla, His successor General Brown, was kept out of the pinnacle of power for a while, thanks to Senator Tuberville,

    Some able operators turned company men like Chris Miller, apparently were discouraged from putting forth any challenge to the Delta House follies,
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ex-acting-defense-sec-claims-he-felt-threatened-by-jan-6-panel/ss-BB1kmEYB
    Vyborg where the Nordstream pipeline originated was on Finnish territory but under Swedish rule,

  32. Brian E:

    I definitely don’t think a majority of the US right supports Russia. However, a smallish but significant and vocal group on the right does support Russia and Putin in its attack on Ukraine, and admires Putin as a nationalist strongman.

    Meanwhile, although the left hasn’t abandoned many of the old Soviet principles – ends justify means, anti-Israel propaganda, strong central governmental control, and using the legal system against your opponents – the left does not admire present-day Russia and is against its invasion of Ukraine and does not make excuses for it.

    I’m not sure what Karmi was getting at, but perhaps something on that order.

  33. Neo, I would like to know why Karmi thinks that.

    Do you consider me pro-Russian?

  34. Something about the “inevitable” nature of Russia’s reconquest of Ukraine, of the existential threat that NATOs vast armies creeping ever so closer to the Russian motherland, the apologetics for Russian frolics in Easter Ukraine in 2014 and siezure of Crimea in 2008, if these aren’t Russian support then they are Russian indifference. Putin welcomes indifference almost as much as open support.

    Isolationists on the Right enable Russian aggression.

    Own it.

  35. Saw a video clip of Jonathan Karl of ABC asking Marco Rubio “Surely you’re not saying that Biden being President encouraged Putin to attack Ukraine!?”

    To which Rubio replied “I’m absolutely saying that!”

    I half expected Rubio to add “… and don’t call me ‘Shirley’!”

  36. om, the Ukrainian propagandist, speaks.
    They say that the first causality of war is the truth.

    I’m interested in what Neo thinks.

  37. Brain E:

    If I wanted to fill the coments with Ukrainian propaganda neo would notice and graciously constrain that offense. You on the other hand have been pushing isolationism and Putin adjacent apologetics for years now, and are remarkably obtuse about it.

    Own it, Brain E.

  38. Brain E:

    Still getting your truth from Tucker and Lt. Col. McGreagor? Will you play the sad trombone for Yanukovyck again?

  39. Brian E. & Neo:

    I was shocked to see the lack of Republican support for Ukraine over the past couple years. Have gradually taken a harder line against the GOP because of it.
    Example: ‘I will not vote for Russia over Ukraine‘ — meaning that as a Florida NPA voter, the GOP selecting Trump as their candidate has pushed me to a point of not voting for a President this year, unless Trump states CLEARLY that he will be fully supporting Ukraine against Russia. No more of his ridiculous “I will end the war.”

    As to Brian E’s earlier question to – ““…now a majority of the American Right is the group supporting Russia.”– Karmi”. The American Right has selected Trump as the GOP candidate, and Trump hasn’t been clear enough on his stance, IMHO.

    Here is a Google search w/ some links. how many republicans support russia over ukraine

    Here is another brief from another link:
    The U.S. Republican schism on Ukraine

    The so-called “Never-Trump” camp within the party is more supportive of Ukraine, arguing (in some cases for years) that Russia represents the most pressing geopolitical threat to American interests. Those aligned with the former president generally echo his caricature of Ukraine as a den of corruption, and are more inclined to admire, rather than condemn, Russian President Vladimir Putin. This split largely mirrors that between “establishment” Republicans and their “anti-establishment” colleagues.

    That is an interesting article. Voted for Trump twice – so am not a Never-Trumper; however, his leadership during his first term was atrocious (better word?!), but I am not going to explain all the reason’s why…again, here. He was just a terrible leader from the start…which should be obvious to every one.

    Brian E.:

    Do you consider me pro-Russian?

    What is your stance on Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine? As brief as possible.

    Here is my stance: I am 100% behind Ukraine over Russia. Anyone not behind Ukraine in this war is pro-Russian or a supporter of Russia over Ukraine.

    That’s probably all I have to say on this Topic…

  40. neo writes, “I definitely don’t think a majority of the US right supports Russia. However, a smallish but significant and vocal group on the right does support Russia and Putin in its attack on Ukraine, and admires Putin as a nationalist strongman.”

    I agree it’s not a majority, but the majority of that minority do not support Russia or the attack of Ukraine. I think the vast majority on the right who are grousing about funding for Ukraine are America first’ers and want our money and weapons to stay at home unless needed to defend our borders. I think they would have the same attitude if Ukraine had attacked Russia and we were sending dollars and weapons to Russia.

    I do hear some on the right speaking favorably of Putin insomuch that he puts his country first, but that’s as far as the rhetoric goes.

  41. He (Vlad) puts “his country first,” first over, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Finland, and parts of Poland. For some reason those former subjects of greater Russia want no part of a return to serfdom.

    Russia, i.e., the Russian empire used to be a bit larger. “His” country is currently the largest country but needs to be larger. It is the bastardization of “Make Russia Great Again.”

    Russyia Mir.

  42. Karmi, the question whether I was pro-Russian was directed to Neo.

    Ukraine’s stated goal is a return to the pre-2014 border. What if that isn’t achievable?

    As om has said, time will tell.

  43. Brian E:

    You mentioned me in 2 or 3 comments—Thusly, I decided to answer that question also, i.e., so you’ll have to wait on Neo’s answer.

    Ukraine has the potential to be the best Ally America has ever had, and they are killing massive amounts of Russians (sorry, I forgot you’re pro-Russian). Hey, besides England & Israel, most of our Allies have always wanted us to put our own boots onto their soil in order to help—not so with Ukraine.

    Ukraine has helped to bring in other great NATO members also. America owes Ukraine a lot more than we have given so far…

    America should tell Russia to get out of all Ukraine (including Crimea) immediately or we will start providing Air Support for Ukraine, and give them better weapons—weapons that can reach all of European Russia. Tell Russia if they want nuclear war, then nuclear war it will be.

    Help Ukraine to fight for its Freedom until they win, settle, or lose…THEIR CHOICE.

  44. Except 150 billion dollars later we are status quo ante not to mention were at a crux point of russian national identity the kievan rus is intertwined with russia

  45. “Russia has turned into a fascist state. Anything that hurts this Russia is good” (c) Ilya Novikov, a Russian lawyer, now an émigré.

  46. Was in Spain some decades back chaperoning student trips. Noted that on various subway platforms were people with bags of passports presumably lifted from tourists. I didn’t know enough Spanish to ask what the prices were and how they may have varied by country of origin.
    How hard is it to fake identity?
    Given the, at least potential, for the cosmopolitan nature of the various ethnic groups and ‘stans in Soviet Russia, how could you tell a genuine Tadjik from a Cossack by…cheedbones? Accent? Brand of shoes? Or a parent’s migration from one to another?
    It appears Russian law enforcement lacks the Miranda warning, along with several other procedural issues we see on Law and Order.
    I expect guilty pleas, or certainly verdicts, shortly

  47. CBS willowy blonde newsbabe, requisite British accent with slight Irish lilt shedding tears of compassion over the treatment of apprehended suspects…

  48. Biden was bribed by gazprom to shut down the pipelines he is the best thing the Russians could have hope for

    China has proven itself to be bigger threat

  49. ee Cervantes:

    Isolationists will not resist China either, it is how they roll.

    Eventually they run out of others to feed to the crocodile. Try some history.

  50. if fact the owner of the crocus hall, was none other that that azeri pageant promoter agymorov, the one who was part of that failed deal for trump to buy a hotel in Russia,

  51. ISIS claimed credit for the Las Vegas mass shooting.

    Right after it happened, I was following along in a forum discussing the shooting. Two posters claimed inside information that the shooter was a leftist. One was from the city, the other was a long time and well known poster with law enforcement ties. Given the long time poster’s history it was my view he was telling the truth (although that doesn’t verify his source in any way). The lack on info in that shooting and FBIs involvement suggest they are hiding something.

  52. LL on March 25, 2024 at 9:06 am said:
    “Russia has turned into a fascist state. Anything that hurts this Russia is good” (c) Ilya Novikov, a Russian lawyer, now an émigré.

    I don’t see that this hurt the Russian state. It killed some Russian people. It probably allows Putin to leverage more power.

  53. Don.
    True.
    But strong, competent rulers prevent this sort of thing.
    Everybody knows this.

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