Russia ups blame-shifting for terror attack to Ukraine, brags it’s boosting recruitment – POLITICO

The effort to shift blame is crucial for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has carefully cultivated a strongman image, given that his regime has dismissed U.S. warnings about a potential imminent terrorist attack in Moscow.

On Sunday, Russian state media published footage of what it says is the interrogation of the four Tajiks who Moscow says carried out the attack. In the video, the battered and bruised men look behind the camera and give what appear to be rehearsed answers, saying they had tried to flee to kyiv, where a man had promised to reward them with a million rubles (10 000 euros) each. Russian state television said all four men carried Ukrainian flags on their phones.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry announced last week that recruitment had increased following the terrorist attack: “Over the past 10 days, approximately 16,000 citizens have signed contracts to participate in an operation special military. The majority of candidates indicated as the main motive for concluding a contract the desire to avenge the victims of the tragedy that occurred on March 22, 2024 in the Moscow region.”

In Sunday’s videos, the four suspects claim they were promised safe passage across the border to the Ukrainian-controlled Sumy region. It’s an unlikely route, given that the men would have had to pass through territory teeming with Russian troops and security services, before reaching the heavily mined and constantly bombed border area.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had more plausibly contradicted his close ally Putin’s claims in the days after the Crocus City Hall attack, saying the terror suspects had in fact headed toward Belarus .

kyiv has repeatedly denied any connection to the attack, with military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov telling POLITICO that Russia was using it to spread hatred against Ukrainians and increase its troop numbers.