Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly Moscow concert attack
- Such attacks are designed so that either there is a second bomb or a series of attacks. This weekend, residents of Moscow will spend in their homes - says Witold Jurasz in an interview with Onet. The former diplomat also states that it does not benefit Putin to use a nuclear bomb.
Armed men entered the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow on Friday evening and opened fire on the gathered crowd. Since it was just a few minutes before the concert was due to start, the auditorium was full.
The Islamic State claims responsibility for the shooting. However, it has not provided any evidence to support this claim.
Jurasz on the Crocus complex
- The Crocus concert hall is one of three facilities within the complex. There is a luxurious shopping center, an exhibition and trade center, and a concert hall. Everything is owned by the Russian-Azerbaijani oligarch Aras Agalarov. His son was married to the daughter of the President of Azerbaijan until 2015. Agalarov collaborated on music videos with Donald Trump, an honorary guest at the opening of one of the complex sections - explains the background in an interview with Onet, Witold Jurasz, journalist and former diplomat.
- Security services were always heavily present there, and the luxury is staggering - he emphasizes.
According to the former diplomat, since the war in Ukraine started, Russia has struggled to protect the facilities within its territory.
Can Russia use nuclear weapons?
- What else can the Russians do? Someone might say they will resort to tactical nuclear weapons, but that is an outdated notion. The Russians will not deploy tactical nuclear weapons. They know that doing so would alienate China and India from them, making them a global outcast. So, they'll create a lot of noise because they excel at that, but they're less effective in combat - Jurasz emphatically.
In the expert's opinion, the attack in Moscow could have favorable outcomes for Ukraine. - He emphasizes that the Russians will need to divert forces to reinforce Moscow, requiring tens of thousands of soldiers, which Russia does not have to spare.
He notes that I don't believe they'll redeploy them from the front but rather from the support units behind the front lines, allowing sabotage teams to operate in those areas, e.g., targeting refineries.
- Propaganda will intensify, but the communication between American and Russian intelligence agencies remains unknown. However, from what we gather, it is quite intensive - the interlocutor from Onet highlights.
Why would Putin want this attack?
- It's not valid to assume that Russian services orchestrated the attack, though such a theory is plausible. It seems less likely than an Islamist group seizing the opportunity - says Jurasz.
Fortunately for us, the Russian state has always been somewhat loosely held together. Such attacks are executed using either multiple devices or a sequence of events. I believe this weekend Moscow's residents will remain indoors, he adds.
- With Vladimir Putin, one can expect anything, as he's a murderer, to put it mildly, but he would need a payoff to engage in such tactics - the expert emphasizes, referring to the speculation that Russian services might have planned the attack in Moscow.
Source: Onet
