TheCable

Russian President Vladimir Putin says radical Islamists were behind the shooting that left about 133 people dead last week in Moscow.

The shooting had happened just before a rock band was about to perform at a concert at the Crocus City Hall. 

Four men broke into the building and started shooting people at point-blank range. They also threw a grenade, setting the hall on fire in several places.

A few hours after the attack, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility but did not provide evidence.

But in a speech on Russian television, Putin claimed that the gunmen were helped by someone in Ukraine.

The Russian leader did not provide evidence for his reference to Ukraine.

But he vowed that “all the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished — whoever they are, whoever is guiding them”.

After a meeting on Monday held to address measures taken after the attack, Putin said “we know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries” but doubled down on his claim that Ukraine had a role to play.

“We are interested in who the customer is,” he said.

Putin said the United States is trying to “convince everyone through various channels that there is no Ukrainian trace in this crime” but said it is necessary to get answers to many questions.

The Russian president said he was baffled as to whether the Islamists decided to strike his country, even though Moscow stands for a fair solution to the aggravated conflict in the Middle East.

“The terrible crime committed on March 22 in the capital of Russia is an act of intimidation,” Putin said.

“And immediately the question arises: who benefits from it? This atrocity can only be a link in a series of attempts by those who have been fighting our country with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime since 2014.

“Those who planned this terrorist attack expected to sow panic and discord in our society, but met unity and determination to confront this evil.”

All four of the gunmen have been arrested according to Putin.