Moscow: terrorism from Kiev, arrest the head of 007. Actions in international courts, but not yet for Crocus
Russia has turned directly to the Ukrainian government to request the extradition of the head of its secret service, accused of having organized terrorist attacks on Russian soil, and has announced legal cases in international courts. Moscow therefore states that it intends to follow legal channels to respond to a series of attacks which in the two years of conflict have affected the capital, but for the moment it still abstains from directly accusing Kiev for the attack on the Crocus City Hall. It is true that, from President Vladimir Putin on down, all politicians and heads of the security services continue to raise suspicions of Kiev’s role as instigator of the attack, which caused 144 deaths and which was claimed by ISIS . But the Foreign Ministry points out that until the investigation is completed and the necessary evidence collected, it is not possible to officially implicate Ukraine. Moscow, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova underlined, instead sent to Kiev, through a diplomatic channel that passes through Belarus, specific requests regarding other episodes. Among these requests, formulated on the basis of international conventions for the fight against terrorism, there is the arrest and extradition of the head of the secret service (SBU), Vasiily Malyuk, who in a recent interview provided details – consequently admitting the responsibility – in a series of attacks. Speaking on Primo Canale television, the spokesperson called the Ukrainians into question, not only for the attack on the Crimean Bridge in October 2022, but also against journalists and public figures who supported the armed intervention in Ukraine. Like the killings of Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky and the wounding of the writer Zakhar Prilepin. If Kiev does not agree to hand over the accused and pay damages to the victims, it will have to answer for its “international legal responsibilities” before the judges, the spokeswoman warned. And “if new information emerges” about a possible role for Ukraine, the same procedure will be followed regarding the Crocus attack. The internal intelligence services, FSB, have announced that they have defeated another terrorist cell in Dagestan, the Russian republic of the North Caucasus, arresting four people who intended to detonate a bomb in a crowded place in the city of Kaspiysk, on the Caspian Sea . The FSB added that one of those arrested also confessed to having personally brought weapons and money to Mytishchi, on the outskirts of Moscow, to hand them over to the Crocus attackers. In recent days the US had said it had warned Russia in advance of an attack being prepared in the capital. Now the Reuters agency writes that it has learned from three well-informed sources that Iran had also warned Moscow. “I don’t know anything about it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented in response to a question. Meanwhile, the former head of the Russian Interpol office, retired police general Vladimir Ovchinsky, in an interview on state television hypothesized that chips may have been implanted in the brains of the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack , because, he claimed, their “consciousness was disabled.” On the Ukrainian front, a member of the pro-Russian administration of the Lugansk region was killed in an attack when his car was blown up. While Peskov announced that Russia will evaluate whether to continue to recognize Volodymyr Zelensky as president of Ukraine in the absence of presidential elections only after his mandate expires in May. According to the provisions of the Constitution, the consultation should have been held yesterday, but it was made impossible by martial law. The Moscow Defense Ministry finally clarified that the enlistment of around 150,000 new recruits, on the basis of a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin, is part of the normal spring call-up and “has nothing to do” with the conflict in Ukraine, where these soldiers will not be sent.
