MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Washington runs the risk of being suspected of involvement in international terrorism due to its attempt to exonerate the Kiev regime and continuation of aid supplies to Ukraine following the March 22 terrorist attack on a crowded concert at Crocus City Hall in suburban Moscow, according to a statement by the press service of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
"It becomes obvious that, by whitewashing the criminal Kiev regime and providing it with aid, the US is risking being suspected of involvement in international terrorism," the statement said.
Distorting portrayal of terror attack
The SVR stressed that the administration of US President Joe Biden has rolled out a concerted campaign to shape a distorted picture of the major terror attack in the heart of Russia. "According to information being received, the [US] State Department, US intelligence agencies, affiliated non-governmental organizations and media outlets have been tasked with scrubbing the global community [and information space] of any suspicions that [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage were implicated in the crime," the SVR said. "The White House is concerned that the discovery of Kiev’s fingerprints in the incident will reveal the terrorist nature of the Ukrainian regime and, thus, completely undermine Washington’s plan to increase support for Ukraine," it added.
According to the SVR, within the framework of these instructions, relevant US structures are conveying information to US allies and partners "meant to convince them that Wilayat Khorasan, the Afghan branch of the ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] terrorist organization, which is banned in Russia, was responsible for the terror attack." The intelligence service noted that in order to support this version of events, "the information space is being filled with ‘fake news’ that Russia has been targeted by ISIS for a long time for its war in Chechnya, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and the establishment of ties with the Taliban movement." In addition, representatives of Russia’s non-systemic opposition "are being tasked with hyping up the narrative of [Russia’s statements that Kiev had a hand in the attack as simply] a groundless attempt by the Russian authorities to use the terror attack as a means to justify the special military operation in Ukraine."
US failure
However, such propagandistic rhetoric by the US is not "selling" well, the SVR stressed. "According to information at the agency’s disposal, the Americans cannot achieve a consensus in the reaction to the tragedy in suburban Moscow even among NATO and EU members, let alone the countries of the Global South," it noted. "On the sidelines, it is being noted that Washington began covering up for and exculpating Zelensky before the 'ashes of the fire-ravaged Crocus City Hall had even cooled.' Such a rush [to judgment] has seemed ill-advised to many in the West, and [downright] suspicious to those in the East."
Kiev’s terror against Russia
The SVR pointed out that the Kiev regime has been engaged for a long time in a "full-blown terrorist war [against Russia], which has been openly declared by its representatives, such as head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate [GUR] Kirill Budanov or Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head Vasily Malyuk." "The slaughter of civilians in the Moscow Region is the direct "kin" of the mass rocket bombardments [on civilian targets] and attacks by saboteur groups in the Kursk and Belgorod regions. That said, information received by the agency indicates that, in organizing their attacks, the Ukrainians are making active use of satellite data provided to them by US intelligence," the SVR concluded.