©Sputnik/Maksim Blinov
The US State Department and special services have reportedly been ordered by the Biden administration to create a “distorted picture” about last month’s terrorist attack on a concert hall in Moscow and to remove any suspicion from the Ukrainian government, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
In a press release on Monday, the SVR claimed that it has received information that US-affiliated NGOs and media have been tasked with “removing from the international community any suspicions about the involvement of Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage in the crime.”
The service suggested that the White House fears that the discovery of a “Kiev trace” in the attack would “highlight the terrorist nature of the Ukrainian regime” and derail Washington’s attempts to increase support for Ukraine.
As an example of such attempts to cover up the story, the SVR claimed that American agencies are already trying to convince US allies and partners that the Afghan branch of Islamic State, Vilayat Khorasan, was responsible for the attack.
To reinforce this narrative the US has been “stuffing” the information field with stories about how Russia has long been the target of Islamic terrorists who seek revenge for the war in Chechnya in the early 2000s, for Moscow’s support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and for establishing ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the SVR said.
The SVR reported further that Russian opposition figures who have left the country have also been ordered to “highlight the unfoundedness” of Moscow’s alleged use of the terrorist attack as justification for its ongoing military operation in Ukraine.
However, despite its efforts, Washington’s “propaganda rhetoric is not selling well,” the agency said, claiming that the US has failed to achieve a uniform assessment of the tragedy, even among NATO and EU members.
”Washington began to shield Zelensky even before ‘the ashes’ of the burned Crocus City Hall had time to cool. Such haste seems reckless to many in the West, and suspicious to many in the East,” it pointed out.
“By whitewashing the criminal Kiev regime, [the US] risks being suspected of involvement in international terrorism,” the SVR warned.
Moscow’s demands conveyed to Ukraine spell out pre-litigation claims — Russian diplomat
The set of demands formally conveyed by Russia to Ukraine on the need to take counter-terrorism measures also contain specific pre-litigation claims sent through official channels, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"We are talking - and this is the most important thing - about pre-litigation claims that were sent through official channels. This is the necessary procedure," the diplomat said on Channel One television.
Zakharova explained that the relevant documents were sent to the Ukrainian government through diplomatic channels. "We are talking about the requirements of the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism," she recalled. "We are talking about demands for the immediate arrest and extradition of all those involved in these terrorist attacks [perpetrated on Russian soil]," the diplomat emphasized.
Among Moscow’s demands is that Kiev arrest Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head Vasily Malyuk, who "cynically admitted on March 25 that Ukraine had organized the bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022 and revealed details of the organization of other terrorist attacks in Russia," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported earlier.
