Borrell admits Ukrainian conflict all about West backing US desire to remain hegemon — MFA

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
©Vladimir Smirnov/TASS

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has acknowledged for the first time ever that the West cannot allow Russia to win in the Ukrainian conflict because that would foil the US’ ambitions to remain the global hegemon, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"It is the first time ever that a representative of the Western regime has told the truth about what is happening," the diplomat wrote on her Telegram channel. "This is not about 'love for Ukrainians,' whom the Westerners have practically completely destroyed. It is all about the desire of the US to maintain its hegemony, to preserve its waning role in global affairs," she pointed out.

Zakharova added that, "the [previous] American approach of seeking constructive solutions in international relations has disappeared without a trace." "Liberal democrats only know how to destroy things, believing that this ability provides a guarantee of [perpetual] dominance," she emphasized.

The spokeswoman noted that the EU’s current role is to "obligingly bring ammunition bought with the [tax] money of its own citizens, who have never been asked their opinion."

The spokeswoman noted that the EU’s current role is to "obligingly bring ammunition bought with the [tax] money of its own citizens, who have never been asked their opinion."

The top EU diplomat said earlier that a Russian victory in Ukraine would not serve the interests of the US, as Washington wishes to be seen as a reliable partner that can ensure the security of its allies.

EU supporting Ukraine based on its own interests, top diplomat says

The European Union is supporting Ukraine based on its own interests rather than out of love for the Ukrainian people, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell told CNN.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell
©Vladimir Smirnov/TASS

"We cannot afford for Russia to win this war. Otherwise, US and European interests will be damaged. It’s not a matter of generosity alone; it’s not a matter of support for Ukraine because we love the Ukrainian people. It is in our own interests, and it is also in the interests of the US as a global player, the one who has to be perceived as a reliable partner and a security provider to the allies. This is why we call on the US to open and approve the supplementary budget," he pointed out.

Borrell added that the EU was making every possible effort "to support Ukraine more and quicker."

The EU said following a March 22 summit that it was determined to provide support to Ukraine "for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed."

US refusal to help Russia in security sphere immoral — MFA

The United States’ statement on the refusal to help Russia after the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall is immoral, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said on her Telegram channel.

Earlier, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, said the US would not cooperate with Russia in the security sphere.

"Challengingly immoral behavior has become a new normal in liberal democracies," Zakharova said.

On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the current death toll is 137, but may rise. The Moscow Region Health Ministry said that 182 people were injured.

Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border.

Hotman: Gugatan Amin dan Ganjar-Mahfud Super-super Cengeng

Anggota Tim Hukum Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Hotman Paris Hutapea, di Gedung Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK), Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Jakarta Pusat, Senin malam, 25/03/2024/RMOL

Pengajuan sengketa atau Perselisihan Hasil Pemilihan Umum (PHPU) oleh tim Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD, dianggap terlalu lemah.

Hal tersebut disampaikan Anggota Tim Hukum Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Hotman Paris Hutapea dalam jumpa pers usai mendaftar sebagai Pihak Terkait, di Gedung Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK), Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Jakarta Pusat, Senin malam, 25/03/2024.

"Jadi menurut kami sih rada cengeng (permohonan gugatan Anies-Muhaimin dan Ganjar-Mahfud)," kata Hotman.

Hotman menuturkan, dalil permohonan dua pasangan capres-cawapres tersebut tidak berdasar, terutama soal pencalonan Gibran yang disebut-sebut tidak absah alias memenuhi syarat.

Sebabnya, dia memandang Anies-Muhaimin dan Ganjar-Mahfud telah menunjukkan sikap penerimaan terhadap Gibran sebagai cawapres.

"Dua kali pasangan 01 dan 03 mengakui keabsahan Gibran. Pertama, waktu pendaftaran di KPU, (saat) mendapatkan nomor (urut), yang malah mereka pesta pora berdiri, tidak ada satupun protes dari keabsahan Gibran," kata Hotman.

"Pengakuan kedua, pada saat debat cawapres. Berapa kali Gibran debat dengan cawapres 01 dan 03 itu atas undangan KPU, dan tidak ada protes satupun. Kok malah disalahkan KPU nya, kok Gibran (dianggap) tidak memenuhi syarat," sambungnya menegaskan.

Oleh karena itu, Hotman menganggap ada ketidaksesuaian yang dilakukan Anies-Muhaimin dan Ganjar-Mahfud, dengan mengajukan perkara PHPU ke MK dan kaitannya dengan fakta pelaksanaan tahapan pencalonan presiden dan wakil presiden oleh KPU RI.

"Ada prinsip yang paling basic, yaitu perbuatan merupakan pengakuan, (ada) dua kali. (Yaitu) dalam pemberian nomor, 01 dan 03 mengakui keabsahan Gibran, mereka benar-benar ceria kan, dan ada Gibran di situ sama sekali tidak ditentang," katanya.

"Kemudian waktu debat, enggak ada sama sekali (protes). Sekarang kok KPU dipersalahkan, (dengan menyebut) enggak memenuhi syarat. Jadi saya mengatakan itu permohonan (gugatan PHPU) yang super-super cengeng," demikian Hotman.

Otto Hasibuan: Gugatan PHPU Pilpres cacat formil

Wakil Ketua Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran Otto Hasibuan menilai gugatan Perselisihan Hasil Pemilihan Umum (PHPU) Pilpres 2024 yang diajukan oleh tim hukum Anies-Muhaimin dan Ganjar-Mahfud adalah cacat formil.

Wakil Ketua Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran Otto Hasibuan (ketiga dari kiri) menjawab pertanyaan awak media di Gedung Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK), Jakarta, Senin, 25/3/2024. ANTARA/Nadia Putri Rahmani

“Secara formal kami melihat bahwa gugatan yang diajukan 01 (Anies-Muhaimin) dan 03 (Ganjar-Mahfud) adalah cacat formil atau cacat prosedural karena tidak memenuhi syarat formil. Karena itu, kami melihat bahwa gugatan itu berpotensi besar tidak dapat diterima,” kata Otto Hasibuan di Gedung MK, Jakarta, Senin (25/3) malam.

Ia mengatakan, dalil yang disebutkan dalam permohonan oleh kedua pemohon adalah terkait dengan pelanggaran penyelenggaraan pemilu yang dituduhkan kepada Prabowo-Gibran.

Menurutnya, dalil pelanggaran adalah ranah Badan Pengawasan Pemilihan Umum (Bawaslu). Sedangkan perkara yang bisa dimasukkan di MK, lanjutnya, adalah perselisihan tentang hasil pemilu.

“Itu tegas diatur di dalam Pasal 476 UU Pemilu dan telah diadopsi di dalam Peraturan MK Tahun 2023 yang menyatakan bahwa permohonan itu diatur mengenai tentang perhitungan suara,” ucapnya menjelaskan.

Selain itu, ia mengatakan, tuntutan mengenai diskualifikasi dalam petitum di permohonan yang diajukan oleh tim hukum Ganjar-Mahfud, juga tidak masuk dalam ranah MK.

Pihaknya juga meyakini persoalan Gibran tidak memenuhi syarat untuk dicalonkan menjadi wakil presiden, akan gampang dipatahkan dari segi bukti.

“Karena bagaimanapun Gibran masuk menjadi calon presiden itu jelas telah diputuskan dalam putusan MK yang sudah final dan binding,” ujarnya.

Karena alasan-alasan tersebut, Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran meyakini bahwa permohonan yang diajukan tim hukum Anies-Muhaimin dan Ganjar-mahfud tidak akan diterima.

“Salah kamar itu (permohonan pemohon). Itu tidak sah,” pungkasnya.

Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran telah resmi mendaftarkan diri menjadi pihak terkait untuk dua perkara PHPU Pilpres 2024 di Mahkamah Konstitusi.

“Ada 45 orang dalam Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran pada malam hari ini, telah menyerahkan surat permohonan untuk menjadi pihak terkait dalam dua perkara yang diajukan ke Mahkamah Konstitusi,” kata Ketua Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Dirinya dan tim telah menyerahkan seluruh kelengkapan berkas yang diminta oleh MK, di antaranya surat kuasa, berita acara sumpah, dan kartu tanda anggota advokat, dan sudah dinyatakan lengkap seluruhnya oleh Panitera MK.

Tim Pembela Prabowo-Gibran yakin mampu menjawab seluruh dalil-dalil yang diajukan oleh pemohon.

“Kami berkeyakinan, Insya Allah, mampu menjawab atau menangkis seluruh argumen dan dalil yang diajukan oleh para pemohon dalam perkara ini,” kata dia.

More than 100 kidnapped Nigerian students arrive back in Kaduna

Wrapped in orange headscarves and blue school uniforms, over 100 Nigerian students and staff who were kidnapped this month arrived at the local government building in the country's north on Monday, a day after they were freed by the army.

"There are here 131 students, six others are currently being hospitalized and will be eventually discharged when they get better," said Major General MLD Saraso of the Nigerian army.

He said one of the 138 people abducted, a school staff member, had died in captivity. The army announced on Sunday it had rescued 137 hostages - 76 female and 61 male - in the neighbouring state of Zamfara, days before a deadline to pay a 1 billion naira ($690,000) ransom for their release.

One security source said he saw 14 black bags, which he assumed contained the ransom money, being delivered to the Dansadau enclave in Zamfara State. He asked not to be named for fears of the possible repercussions.

Information minister Mohammed Idris told a press briefing in Abuja that no ransom was paid.

Nigerian students and staff who were kidnapped this month sit after they arrived at the local government house in Kaduna, Nigeria March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Garba Muhammad Purchase Licensing Rights

School officials and residents put the number of students kidnapped on March 7 in the town of Kuriga in the northwestern state of Kaduna at 287 while Governor Uba Sani put the figure at over 200.

Given the discrepancies in the numbers reported, it was unclear if any hostages remained captured. Kuriga elders said Sani had told them all the hostages had been freed.

A boy holds a sign to protest against, what a teacher, local councilor and parents said, the kidnapping of hundreds school pupils by gunmen after the Friday prayer in Kaduna, Nigeria March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

The abduction of students in Nigeria began over a decade ago when jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State. Some of the girls have still not been released.

The abduction of students in Nigeria began over a decade ago when jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State. Some of the girls have still not been released.

The students, many of them below the age of 10, were brought Monday to the Kaduna State Government House with fresh haircuts and newly sewn clothes and footwear — their first change of clothing since their abduction.

Some of them had sore feet suggesting they might have trekked long distances in the forests where they were held hostage

A boy holds a sign to protest against, what a teacher, local councilor and parents said, the kidnapping of hundreds school pupils by gunmen after the Friday prayer in Kaduna, Nigeria March 8, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

The six children still in hospital will be made available “as soon as the doctors have certified them fit enough,” Maj. Gen. Mayirenso Saraso, a military chief in Kaduna, said while handing them over to the government.

Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, that no ransom was paid for the children’s freedom and that their kidnappers “will be fished out by the security agencies and will never go unpunished.”

Arrests are rare in Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis as most victims are released only after ransom payments by their families or through deals that sometimes involve the release of their gang members. The Nigerian government, however, does not admit to such deals.

School authorities originally had told the state government that a total of 287 students were kidnapped during the attack. However, Kaduna Gov. Uba Sani said only 137 are confirmed to have been seized.

“We are here today happily and celebrating the safe return of our children. They will soon be with their family and their parents,” Gov. Sani said.

Their parents were not available to receive them and authorities did not allow the schoolchildren to speak to reporters. The Associated Press could not reach families in Kuriga town, which does not have cellphone service.

But one parent on Sunday spoke of their sleepless nights as they waited for the return of the children.

“We were traumatized throughout the absence of our children. Our children were away in the bush, with no food, and no good water,” said Jubril Kuriga, whose 9-year-old daughter was among the children kidnapped.

At least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in Borno state’s Chibok village shocked the world. In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the country’s conflict-battered northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travelers for ransom.

It is Clear Who Carried Out Concert Hall Attack, Question is Who Benefits - Putin

©Sputnik/Maksim Blinov/Go to the mediabank

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow had been committed by radical Islamists.

"We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries," Putin said.

Eventhough Russia knows who carried out the terrorist attack in the Crocus concert hall, but the mastermind behind it is still in question, and we need to find out whether radical Islamists really decided to strike at the country, the Russian president said.

"In the course of the joint work of our special services and law enforcement agencies, it is necessary to get answers to a number of questions, for example, whether radical, even terrorist-minded Islamic organizations are really interested in striking at Russia, which today stands for a just solution to the escalated Middle East conflict," Putin said at a consultation with Russian authorities on measures taken after the terrorist attack.

"The horrific crime committed on March 22 in the capital of Russia is an act of intimidation... and the question immediately arises: who benefits?" Putin said. "This atrocity can only be an element in a whole series of attempts by those who have been fighting our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime."

Those who attacked the Crocus City Hall concert venue had tried to escape to Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a "window" was prepared for them to cross the border, Putin previously said. All five who were directly involved in the shooting were arrested.

"Of course, we also need to answer the question of why the terrorists tried to leave for Ukraine after committing the crime and who was waiting for them there," Putin underlined during the conversation with Russian authorities on security measures taken after the terrorist attack.

President Putin went on to add that the US is making a comprehensive effort to convince everyone that Ukraine had nothing to do with the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall near Moscow and the responsibility lies solely with ISIS.

"We see how the US is taking to various channels to convince its satellites and other countries that according to the data from its intelligence, there is allegedly no Ukrainian trace in the Moscow terrorist attack and that the bloody terrorist attack had been carried out by those professing Islam — members of IS, an organization banned in Russia. We already know by whose hands this atrocity against Russia and its people had been carried out. Now we want to know who the mastermind is," Putin said.

Investigators must conduct an objective probe into the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack despite the desire to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Despite the universal pain, sorrow, compassion and legitimate desire to punish all the perpetrators of this brutal atrocity, the investigation must be conducted in a highly professional and objective manner, without any political bias,” Putin said.

Russian society has shown an example of true solidarity, cohesion and mutual support after the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow Region, the president emphasized.

"Our society has shown an example of real solidarity, cohesion and mutual support at this difficult time," he said during the meeting.

Among those who are now sending words of sympathy to the families of the victims are people of different nationalities, from all regions of our country, of all ages, including children, pupils and students, Putin added.

Putin asked investigators to report on the progress of their probe and work to identify all those involved in the terrorist attack, as well as to report regularly on the investigation as it proceeds.

Putin expressed condolences to the family and friends of the victims of the attack and also wished a speedy recovery to the wounded victims.

Terror Attack in Moscow Region Was ‘Carefully Planned’

The deadly attack on the Crocus City Hall near Moscow was carefully planned, Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said at the meeting.

"Preliminary findings of the investigation suggest that the terrorist attack was carefully planned and prepared. The attack left 139 people dead," Bastrykin told President Putin at a briefing.

The head of Russia’s main investigative body clarified that 137 people died in the attack, while two succumbed to their wounds in hospitals. At least 40 victims died from gunshot wounds and 45 lost their lives in the fire that erupted during the attack. Bastrykin added that other 182 people were injured.

Meanwhile, investigators have established a full chronology of developments of the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow.

"The Investigative Committee continues active work on investigating the criminal case of the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall. The investigation has established the complete chronology of what had happened," Bastrykin said.

Meanwhile, the suspects accused of carrying out the deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow admitted their guilt and shared details of their accomplices and clients.

A Sputnik news correspondent who was present in the crowded concert hall during the attack said that gunmen broke into the building, shooting people point-blank and throwing incendiary bombs.

Watch Vladimir Putin Call to Create Global Anti-ISIS Coalition Nearly a Decade Ago

Russia attempted to rally the global community against one of the most notorious terrorist organizations in the world in 2015.

In his speech at a UN General Assembly Session in 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the creation of an international anti-terrorist coalition to combat the threat posed by ISIS, a terrorist organization that emerged in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Urging other nations to act not on their ambitions but on common values and interests, Putin proposed forming a global coalition that, just like the coalition of Allied nations in World War II, would stand against those who “sow evil and spread hatred against humanity.”

He pointed out how Western powers essentially helped arm and train ISIS militants by providing weapons and training to members of the so-called “moderate Syrian opposition” who then defected to ISIS.

Making declarations about the threat of international terrorism while simultaneously turning a blind eye on how such terrorist groups are funded and supported is hypocritical, Putin stated without naming any particular.

Putin also criticized those who refused to cooperate with the Syrian government, noting that troops loyal to President Bashar Assad were fighting valiantly against the terrorists.

Western powers, despite styling themselves as stalwart opponents of terrorism, de facto ignored Putin’s proposal. The United States, for example, opted instead to illegally occupy a large portion of Syria’s territory under the pretext of fighting ISIS separately from Russia.

How US Facilitated Creation of Terror Groups Like ISIS

©AP Photo

In their efforts to draw suspicion away from Ukraine by pinning the blame on the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack on ISIS*, US political strategists who came up with this ploy effectively backed themselves into a corner, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Just like the US meddling in Afghanistan in the 1980s paved the way for the rise of al-Qaeda*, the 2003 US invasion and subsequent de facto occupation of Iraq resulted in the creation of ISIS, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova elaborated in her recent op-ed.

Her assessment was shared by Hasan Abdullah, a political scientist at Global Security & Strategy Institute and expert on Islamic militancy, who noted that the US actions in Afghanistan during the Soviet military intervention produced a “conducive environment which was created for the emergence of many groups” that would later “operate in neighboring countries as well.”

“You can talk about al-Qaeda as well. Al-Qaeda was one of the groups that emerged from there. So, you could say that the environment that was created, did ultimately pave the way for al-Qaeda as well,” he said.

The United States’ attempts to wage a proxy war against the USSR in Afghanistan resulted in the emergence of “a completely new generation of Mujahideen with the Jihadi mindset that still haunts world's peace,” added Syed Fakhar Kakakhel, a Peshawar-based senior journalist who specializes in covering politics and militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Central Asian militant outfits like the East Turkestan Islamic Movement* (ETIM) and Uzbekistan Islamic Movement* (IMU) were made after inspiration by the Afghan Jihad,” Kakakhel explained. “Those were the times when the Arab fighters poured into this region among them was a Saudi Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda. It was the same al-Qaeda that hit back at the United States with the 9/11 terror attack killing hundreds of innocent American citizens.”

The so-called War on Terror unleased upon the world by the United States and its NATO allies in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, opened a whole new can of worms.

The US invasion, illegal as it was, led to the radicalization of many groups and individuals in Iraq who, as Abdullah put it, “felt that it was their religious or, in the case of many secular groups, nationalist duty to fight against an invader.”

“It was the US invasion of Iraq due to the [alleged but ultimately false] presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that led to [Iraqi al-Qaeda leader] Abu Musab Al Zarqawi moving to Iraq and starting fighting against the Western troops in Iraq. He was the one who built training camps in Syria thus destabilizing the whole region,” said Kakakhel. “Later on, it was revealed that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

It was due to “the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East by the West” that “militant organizations like al-Qaeda, ETIM*, IMU*, and ISIS have been created, putting global peace at risk,” he added. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 did little to improve things in the region, in no small part because the fleeing US troops left behind military hardware and equipment worth billions of dollars.

“The neighboring countries to Afghanistan believe that now different militant organizations are using these weapons against them. We have witnessed a huge surge in attacks in Pakistan and Iran by religious extremist organizations equipped with these latest weapons,” Kakakhel remarked.

Meanwhile, Abdullah observed that the United States appears content to turn a blind eye to the emergence of terrorist organizations in the world because powerful groups, companies and lobbies in the US benefit from instability and war.

“In many cases, we find this convergence of interest between those terrorist organizations and the American ruling elite. When you look at that context, it's understandable why this convergence of interest can sometimes pave the way for the Americans allowing some of these terrorist organizations to grow in mushroom,” he mused.

Regarding the United States refusing Russia’s proposal back in 2015 to form a global anti-ISIS front, Abdullah speculated that the US simply “does not want Russia to take any credit.” “The Russian proposals could have been very instrumental and the Americans did not want the Russians to get credit for initiating such a proposal and putting together a coalition that could have been beneficial for the international community at large. I think that's the fundamental reason,” he said.

Abdullah pointed out a curious tendency: while the “biggest victims of ISIS have actually been the Muslims,” the “biggest beneficiaries” of the terrorist group’s activities “have actually been a number of Western powers.”

Also, a number of figures within ISIS “turned out to be people connected to Western intelligence organizations or even who had been part of various Western special forces or intelligence organizations,” he added.

Lastly, the Arabic writing on the ISIS flag is a Jewish Hebrew style.

US bails Ukraine out after Moscow attack, covering Zelensky with ISIS — diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
©Mikhail Tereshchenko/ TASS

After the Crocus City Hall attack, the US tries to bail Ukraine out by mentioning the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, outlawed in Russia) terror group, outlawed in Russia, and to cover itself and the Zelensky regime it created, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an article for kp.ru.

"The American political engineers cornered themselves with their tales that the Crocus City Hall attack was carried out by the ISIS terror group," the diplomat noted. "Hence Washington’s daily bailing out of its wards in Kiev, and the attempt to cover itself and the Zelensky regime they created with the scarecrow of the outlawed ISIS."

Zakharova noted that a number of factors directly and indirectly indicate the US authorities’ involvement in sponsoring the Ukrainian terrorism.

"Billions of dollar and an unprecedented amount of weapons, invested without accountability and with use of corruption schemes into the Kiev regime, the aggressive rhetoric regarding Russia, the rabid nationalism, the ban for peace talks on Ukraine, the endless calls for a force resolution of the conflict, the refusal to condemn the years-long terror attacks, carried out by the Kiev regime, and the massive informational and political support of any, even the most atrocious actions of Zelensky," she listed.

The spokeswoman also noted that previously, the US intervention in Middle Eastern affairs has led to the emergence, strengthening and institutionalization of a number of radical and terrorist groups that remain active in the region even today.

"What is the logic, you may ask? Money and power. And, considering the international legal ban on direct interventions, it is also about sowing a ‘controlled chaos’ and reshaping the world order by the hands of terrorists," she continued. "Attention, a question for the White House: are you sure it was ISIS, won’t you change your mind later?"

World must unite to find masterminds of terrorist attack near Moscow — Russian ombudswoman

The international community must unite to find the masterminds of the terrorist attack late last week on a crowded concert at Crocus City Hall in suburban Moscow, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova
©Mikhail Metzel/ TASS

"It is very important for the entire world community to unite today to find the masterminds and hold them accountable to the fullest extent," Moskalkova said at a makeshift memorial near the site of the attack.

The ombudswoman also expressed condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased, wished a speedy recovery to those who were affected by this "monstrous, bloody terrorist attack." "Of course, the heart is filled not only with pain but also with hatred towards those who were able to commit this monstrous act," Moskalkova said.

On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the current death toll is 137, but may rise. The Moscow Region Health Ministry said that 182 people were injured. Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared "a window" in the border especially for the terrorists to cross undetected. He promised to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack on Crocus City Hall and declared March 24 a day of national mourning for the victims.

Macron extends hand to Russia in anti-terror efforts

France is ready to work with with Russia to fight terrorism, French President Emmanuel Macron said, commenting on Friday’s terror attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow.

"We are in talks at all levels, both technical and ministerial, to possibly offer our cooperation based on the information that we have at our disposal and that could be of use to the Russian side," the French leader said upon arriving in French Guiana, according to a video of his meeting with the press posted on the French presidency’s page on X.

Of course, this is Macron's ploy which aims to obscure the mastermind behind this terror act.