Putin's blame game: Pinning Moscow attack on West and Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is building a narrative within Russian society regarding the attack on Friday: the West and Ukrainians are to blame. "The Russian side, the propaganda apparatus, are focusing on stimulating a thirst for revenge in society," says Dr. Michal Marek, an expert in disinformation, in a conversation with Wirtualna Polska.

On Friday, terrorists attacked the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow. Gunfire was opened towards the audience, explosive devices detonated. A fire broke out, resulting in the building's roof collapsing.

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province, an Afghan branch of ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack. Russian authorities claim that four perpetrators of the attack were captured, and they are not Russian citizens.

According to the Kremlin, the attack, which the United States had warned Russia about, was inspired by Ukrainians. Since the weekend, Vladimir Putin has been constructing a narrative in his country that Ukrainians are guilty of the attacks and deserve revenge. An example of such revenge might be the massive attack on Kiev on Monday.

Dr. Michal Marek, author of the monograph "Operation Ukraine" and an expert in disinformation, tells Wirtualna Polska that "the key narrative that has been constructed concerning the attack places the responsibility for the terrorist act primarily on Ukraine and on Western countries."

"The narrative was stabilized yesterday, through a statement by Vladimir Putin. Direct responsibility for the act itself was blamed on the Islamic State, but it was immediately suggested that someone else was behind these fighters. Here, it was suggested that it was the Ukrainians or the West," the expert recalls.

And he adds that today, from the afternoon hours again, messages are being broadcast, including by Nikolai Patrushev, which directly accuse the Ukrainian state.

"We already have a stabilized message - an hour, two after the attack, the blame started to be directly placed on Ukrainians. And now we are dealing with a permanent narrative," he notes. And he lists that "the Russian side, the propaganda apparatus, concentrate on stimulating in society a thirst for revenge."

As an example, he mentions that "we are dealing with the release of photos, recordings that show brutal treatment of detainees." "There are, for example, photos with a car battery attached to genitals or photos where a detainee's ear is being cut off" he lists. In the opinion of the Wirtualna Polska interlocutor, these actions aim to foster acceptance of violence.

"It serves to radicalize the entire society. And against this background, when we have built such a desire for revenge, acceptance of barbaric acts, actions are focused on blaming the Ukrainians," he explains.

"And he adds that "Putin wants to prepare society for the next waves of mobilization". "The next recruits will be motivated to fight and will be ready to commit war crimes on Ukrainian civilians without any qualms, with such actions accepted by Russian society. This is a very worrying trend," he says.

In the opinion of the Wirtualna Polska interlocutor, the same action applies to the citizens of NATO countries, such as Poles. "This is a key action. And this action, which - I fear - is effective, as far as the Russian society is concerned. It doesn't matter who was behind the attack, it's important that Russians believe it was definitely either the West or Ukrainians supposedly directed by the West. This message remains in the minds of a significant portion of Russians," he emphasizes.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that French intelligence confirmed that "the Islamic State entity incited and carried out that attack in Moscow."

"This group also attempted to carry out several actions on our soil," he told reporters during a visit to French Guiana on Monday. "Given the responsibility claimed by the Islamic State for the attack and the threats our country faces, we decided to raise the alert level to the highest" – wrote Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on the X platform.