Meduza: Kremlin ordered state and pro-government media to emphasise alleged 'Ukrainian trace' in reports of Crocus shooting

Moscow, Russia (Svidomi) — The Kremlin has ordered state-owned media and media loyal to the Russian authorities to emphasise the alleged 'Ukrainian trace' in reports of the Crocus shooting, the Russian media outlet Meduza reports.

This was reported by unnamed employees of the state-owned and one of the Russian media outlets loyal to the authorities.

The Russian Federal Security Service spread information about the so-called 'Ukrainian trace'. According to their statement, the four suspects planned to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border because they allegedly "had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side". The men were detained on the night of March 23 in the Briansk region, which borders Ukraine.

In his address, Vladimir Putin said that "the Ukrainian side had allegedly prepared a window" for the attackers to escape from Russia.

According to the latest data from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the number of people killed in the shooting on March 22 has risen to 115. Russian Telegram channels also report that all the suspects have been in Russia long enough to have Russian citizenship. Earlier, there were reports that the attackers were from Tajikistan.

Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate stated on March 22 that the Kremlin could accuse Ukraine of organising the attack and "use the shooting of its citizens as a pretext for even more brutal attacks on civilian infrastructure and the killing of Ukrainian civilians".

Andrii Yusov, a Ukrainian intelligence official, called the FSS accusations "primitive lies designed for idiots and the Russian population".

"Ukraine has already announced its official position that it has nothing to do with this terrorist attack, as the whole world knows and is informed about it," Yusov said in a commentary to Hromadske, a digital broadcasting station in Ukraine.

He stressed that the criminals' attempt to escape to Ukraine is unlikely in the context of a full-scale war, the presence of security forces and special services in the border regions and a mined border.

It will be recalled that a shooting took place in the Crocus City Hall in Russia before the concert of the rock band Piknik.