E. Rowell: There are many hypotheses regarding those who planned the attack in Moscow. This is but one hypothesis, albeit with supporting evidence.
By Andrew Korybko 24 March 2024
The GUR learned everything about terrorism from the CIA, but since it’s still a knockoff, it made a series of sloppy mistakes that resulted in incriminating Ukraine instead of lending false credence to the ISIS-K narrative.
Speculation has swirled since Friday night’s terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall venue in Moscow over whether ISIS-K was really responsible like the group claimed or if Ukraine’s military-intelligence service GUR orchestrated everything under the cover of its agents posing as members of that group. The Mainstream Media is running with the first scenario while doing their utmost to discredit the second, but recalling the GUR’s terrorist history and ties with radical Islamists shows that it’s not above suspicion.
They were responsible for assassinating Darya Dugina in summer 2022, carrying out the Crimean Bridge truck bomb attack that fall, assassinating Vladlen Tatarsky in spring 2023, and the cross–border terrorist raids by the so-called “Russian Volunteer Corps” over the past year. They’re also tied to Crimean Tatar terrorists and ISIS-linked Chechen ones. The CIA is connected with these terrorist acts and groups too after the Washington Post reported last fall that they rebuilt the GUR from the ground-up after 2014.
The modern-day GUR is a product of the CIA, which certainly shared with its protégés everything that it learned while waging the ongoing Hybrid War on Syria, not to mention their terrorist contacts as well. It was through this meticulous cultivation that GUR chief Kirill Budanov obtained his bloodlust that was on full display last spring when he declared that “we’ve been killing Russians and we will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine.”
For as lethal as the GUR has become over the past decade, it’s still a CIA knockoff, which is why it’s expected to make sloppy mistakes from time to time. This is relevant when it comes to the latest attack after ISIS-K claimed responsibility using an outdated news template, thus suggesting that someone else claimed credit in their name at first but then ISIS-K opportunistically ran with it for clout. Considering its terrorist history and ties with radical Islamists, that mysterious actor was arguably the GUR.
What likely happened is that their agents posed as members of that terrorist group in order to retain plausible deniability in case the planned attack was foiled or the terrorists were caught afterwards. One of the Tajiks who was captured in the car that was racing towards the Ukrainian border claimed that they were recruited by the curators of a radical Telegram channel just a month ago to carry out the attack using already cached arms in exchange for a debit card payment of around $5000 each.
These nationals were probably chosen by the GUR since some of them are predisposed to religious radicalism due to the lingering legacy of Tajikistan’s Islamist-inspired civil war from the 1990s, their country abuts ISIS-K’s Afghan headquarters, and they have visa-free travel privileges to Russia. Accordingly, they were allegedly recruited via a radical Telegram channel, ISIS-K’s involvement doesn’t seem entirely implausible, and they were able to easily enter Russia with minimal scrutiny.
They weren’t radical enough to go out with guns blazing or in a suicide blast like ISIS-K is known for, however, but were still sufficiently sympathetic with that group’s ideology to carry out what they believed was its latest mission in exchange for money. This explains why they fled from the scene of the crime, which is contrary to what any affiliate of that group would ever do, after machine-gunning dozens of people and setting fire to the venue.
Had they reached Ukraine, where the FSB confirmed that they had contacts and President Putin said that “a window was prepared for them…to cross over”, then they’d likely have been killed by the GUR to cover everything up. It shouldn’t be forgotten that this group learned how to conduct terrorism from the CIA, which in turn perfected this practice in Syria over the past 13 years of the Hybrid War that it’s been waging there, but the GUR is still a knockoff and that’s why they made three sloppy mistakes.
In the order that they occurred, their first mistake was recruiting people who weren’t ready to fight to the death at the scene of their forthcoming terrorist attack. This led to the culprits being captured and spilling the beans about how they were recruited in exchange for money, which is one of the signs that ISIS-K wasn’t behind what happened since their members always expect to die as “martyrs”. Accordingly, the fact that this mistake was made suggests that the GUR was desperate to go through with their plans.
The second mistake was that they didn’t tell their proxies to flee to a safe house right after the attack to meet a contact that’ll then help them reach the border later on but who’d actually kill them once they meet in order to cover everything up. This led to them racing towards the Ukrainian border, thus showing everyone that they at the very least felt that they’d find sanctuary there, which made Russia’s claim of Ukrainian involvement much more believable for many skeptical Westerners.
And finally, the last mistake was that the GUR used an outdated news template to claim credit for the attack on behalf of ISIS-K, who they correctly predicted would opportunistically run with it for clout. By doing so, however, they signaled that the group itself didn’t play a role in organizing what happened otherwise their more modern template would have been used instead. Taken together, these three sloppy mistakes discredited the Mainstream Media’s narrative and drew attention to the GUR instead.
Coupled with its terrorist history and ties with radical Islamic groups, which respectively prove that it has the capabilities and intent to carry out the Crocus attack as well as the knowledge required to impersonate extremists online for recruiting purposes, all of this makes the GUR the prime suspect. It learned everything about terrorism from the CIA, but since it’s still a knockoff, it made a series of sloppy mistakes that resulted in incriminating Ukraine instead of lending false credence to the ISIS-K narrative.
@Michael
@Michael Yes, my first comment was about the UNGA. The Ukraine has mostly voted against Israel including right after October 7th. The only possible thing Ukraine could do for Israel is to vote in support and it doesn’t do that. I mentioned the security council because you seem to think it makes the slightest difference whether a country is authoritarian or democratic when it comes to supporting Israel. It doesn’t. That’s why I don’t care when people bring up red herrings about the internal affairs of this or that country in this context. It puts me to sleep. It’s like saying, “everything’s up.” Though I think anybody who would visit these places is misinformed or just a foolhardy idiot. President Trump used the scientific expression, “shithole countries.” Felix suggested Trump’s a Trotskyist so I suppose it must be a Trotskyist term. Clever these Trotskyists.
Sebastien,
I mentioned the UNGA, not the Security Council. I also said,
“I don’t believe anyone’s opinion will change greatly on these matters in the near future; so while I’m at the keyboard, I would like to introduce an aspect of this conflict which grows daily in important, but has been largely ignored on Israpundit: France.’
Everyone here knows what you, Peloni and Ted have to say about that side of the world, which amounts to a deification of Putin. My word on the matter, is that I’ve had enough of it.
@Michael Democracies on the Security Council voted as well to condemn Israel.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/26/un-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-countries-vote/
@Michael Ukraine, as well, has always voted to condemn Israel except for a brief period when Zelensky was trying to woo Israel into giving him Iron Dome. This applies to democracies as well as authoritarian regimes, not that Ukraine is any more of a democracy than Russia is, maybe less; Russia hasn’t nationalized the press, banned opposition parties, and outlawed, jailed, and expropriated an entire religious denomination, or dragooned recruits off the street into the army front line, arresting people who try to flee the country, to my knowledge, and they both allegedly assassinate dissidents who they label as propagandists for the other side. Every single member of the U.N. has either voted against Israel or abstained and most voted against most of the time except for those exceptions. That’s out of 190 countries. The U.N. is a global and globalist antisemitic organization that funds antisemitic terrorists and then condemns Israel for fighting back.
Sebastien.
You are correct, about the voting patterns in the UNGA: Concerning Israel, Russia, China, India, Iran and Ukraine all vote virtually alike. This is the result of all of them being, to some extent or another, authoritarian regimes. The poll I cited, from a few months ago, is more reflective of the views of the populace. In the poll, I think the only country in the world that’s more pro-Israel than Ukraine is Israel itself.
One take-away from that poll, which I considered a little off-topic, was that the vast majority of Russians, more than in any of the other parties, did not venture any opinion concerning Israel. That is because Russians live in fear of their government, and have for hundreds of years.
I don’t believe anyone’s opinion will change greatly on these matters in the near future; so while I’m at the keyboard, I would like to introduce an aspect of this conflict which grows daily in important, but has been largely ignored on Israpundit: France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1iS6ib45Z8
0:00 / 48:58
This is actually two videos on the subject, bacvk-to-back: Why France is Actually Preparing for War With Russia and
0:00 / 48:58
France’s secret empire is dying
The second video is VERY connected to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in that in both conflicts, Russia is fighting a proxy conflict against Europe’s foremost nuclear power.
FELIX-
Shatter is a combination of fool and dumbbell. He is a solicitor in real life. One of my solicitors who spent 26 years losing an open and shut case, for me. Gallagher, Shatter& Co. is their name.
Avoid them if you need any Law.
@Laura The only country, besides the U.S. and a few U.S. aligned Pacific islands that has voted against U.N. Resolutions condemning Israel most of the time is Hungary. The Ukraine wants Iron Dome. Hungary, which is also the safest place in Europe for Jews, wants nothing from Israel though both have erected monuments to Nazi collaborators. We must learn to be self-reliant and resist the temptation to engage in sentimental virtue signaling. It is not in our interest to be drawn into this NATO fueled color revolution/civil war.
“Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of [Israel]. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” – Lord Palmerston
Felix, I’m living in the present, 2024. While Ireland is still antisemitic, Ukrainians support Israel more than any other country, according to the poll Michael sent. Russia is ranked the opposite.
This comment reminds me somewhat of Alan Shatter.
This is not the time to blame Netanyahu…or Putin
Correction nearly two “million”
There is little to say about Shatter attacking Netanyahu. Alan Shatter on X has fought the Antisemites in Ireland to defend Israel. Now he has joined forces with the same Antisemitism as represented by Joe Biden and Blinken who want Netanyahu to surrender to Hamas. The only alternative is to finish the task to physically destroy Hamas. No to a Second Palestinians State.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/time-for-netanyahu-to-go/
Laura
I agree the Irish caught by the Antisemitism of the Church do have a record. But not THAT record. Bandera murdered nearly TWO billion Jews. Whose politics today with NATO you support.
And BTW Felix, the drunken micks support hamas too, so fuck Ireland.
I’m happy about it too. It’s karma. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard of the Moscow attack is schadenfreude. The Russians support hamas and have been on the attack against Israel since 10/7. Russia is an ENEMY of Israel, as are its people as that poll shows and what I’ve experienced from Russians and their backers on social media. The people on this site need to stop defending Russia. They hate you. Ukrainians support Israel. You people are dense.
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Why not hop on a flight to Poland, travel down and make acquaintance with a strapping Banderaite.
Test out the ground. To see if they have mellowed ?
This article reaffirms it was ISIL but says Zelensky’s second in command is happy that 150 innocent Russians were murdered and predicts more. Imagine the international fury that would greet even an Israeli street sweeper who uttered such a remark much less the second in command.
https://amgreatness.com/2024/03/25/top-zelensky-aide-says-hes-happy-terrorists-murdered-150-innocents-in-theater/
Can we expect a UN resolution condemning Russia?
That tells me all I need to know about who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. This is not a surprising poll when you look at the Russian X accounts and those who support Russia.
Sure, only Putin is permitted to slaughter Russians on Russian soil like the 1999 FSB bombing of a Moscow apartment building.
https://www.kiis.com.ua/?lang=eng&cat=reports&id=1334&page=1#:~:text=As%20can%20be%20seen%2C%20the,sympathize%20with%20both%20sides%20equally
https://www.kiis.com.ua/materials/pr/20231215_k/e01.JPG
https://www.kiis.com.ua/materials/pr/20231215_k/e03.JPG
It is as I said. Recent poll results:
Ukrainians support Israel over Palestine, 69:1
Russians support Palestine over Israel, 21:6
Adam,
I saw the videos of the tortured Islamic suspects, along with footage of their interrogation. One of them readily admitted to giving his services for money (not for Allah). If he could have harmed the Ukrainians in the process, he would have.
Peloni has been a spokesman for Putin in the past. Now he is also defending Muslim terrorists. I don’t understand this.
— https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/25/putin-says-radical-islamists-behind-moscow-concert-attack-a84625
Even Putin is crediting the islamists with the attack:
“President Vladimir Putin on Monday night said for the first time that “radical Islamists” were behind Friday’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow, but otherwise doubled down on his previous claim that Ukraine may have somehow been involved and suggested that Washington was allegedly trying to cover it up.”
Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to strongly support Israel in its war against Hamas. What has happened to Peloni’s otherwise brilliant noodle?
Russian TV and the social media accounts of high-p[ranking officials proudly showed their agents cruelly torturing the suspected terrorists. One had his boot on the head of a man being tortured. They had their hands tied behind their back, gasping inpain. Worst of all. on TV, one of the agents sliced off the ear of one of the suspects, then put it in his mouth.
Later, when the suspects were finally presented in court to hear the charges against them, they were in wheel chairs, obviously badly injured. the One whose ear was sliced off during interrogation had a bandage where his ear had been.
Numerous prominent Russians said on internet onen-sourcesites that they fully approved of the torture of the suspects and rejoiced in it. Russia is a society that has become hopelessly brutalized and has lost its way.
@Laura
It is ironic that a similar claim was lodged against Israel in the wake of October 7, and such claims lodged at the US in the wake of 911 were disavowed as being ‘truthers’.
I am not certain what role the US or Ukraine had in the tragedy in Moscow, if any, but it is not reasonable that Putin would permit such a slaughter of Russian citizens, by foreign nationals, on Russian soil, in the Russian capital, while he was enjoying significant support of the nation in its second year while at war with the American proxy in Ukraine. As Adam has described, it demonstrates a complete security failure on Putin’s part, and what should be even more concerning to Russia and Putin is that this security disaster will invite additional such outrages from the likes of Ukraine and the US, both of whom would love to exploit such security failures in Russia in the future.
Additionally, Ukraine and the US have each demonstrated their use of terrorist attacks during the war with Moscow. Do recall the fellow who was executed by Ukraine while driving a bomb across the Kirsh bridge, and their assassination of Maria Dugina, not to be outdone by the American destruction of the Nordstream pipeline.
This does not of course necessarily indicate that either the US or Ukraine were behind the slaughter in Moscow, but the psychopaths who are leading both of these nations like to brag about their exploits so if they were involved we are sure to read about it in some US media outlet the coming weeks.
So Russians die and Tadjik Muslims are imprisoned or executed.
Not a bad day at all.
The Israelis were also enjoying a concert or just sleeping in their homes when they were slaughtered and kidnapped. Most of the reaction around the world to Israel’s tragedy and suffering was to express glee followed by blaming and demonizing the Israelis and demanding they reward those butchers with the creation of an adjacent terror state. So, I have no empathy or sympathy whatsoever for hamas’ ally Russia. The Israelis suffered 10x the fatalities. I wonder if the world is going to demand Russia not respond or demand the creation of an isis state. I see the attack as schadenfreude for Russia’s support of hamas.
Probably
The terrorists got clean away from the scene. They travelled several hundred kilomesters iwithout the FSB or the Russian police catching up with them. They were only arrested by the Belorussian oikice when they tried to enter that country. The only role that the Russian authorities played in the whole process was to give the Belorussians a descriotion of the terrorists, whcch enabled the Belorussian police to identify and arrest them The Putin regime is great at putting people in jail, or poisoning or sahoting them if they dare to criticize the government. Faced with an actual terroris threat to the lives and property of Russians, the state security services were completely unprepared and helpless. Obviously a case of misplaced prioroties.
Strangely, Ted is placing this kind of article again and again. The author did not check the map. How could he conclude that “the car was racing towards the Ukrainian border?” In fact, it was racing towards the Belarus border. These Tajiks, who worked in a barber shop and at a warehouse (that was already proven), with no Russian and no combat skills, had nothing to do with the killing. They came to Russia to earn some money. They wanted the money they were offered. They did not realize what danger it was to transport the car. Look what these butchers from GRU/KGB did to them! These poor people will confess everything. The author probably forgot the Nord-Ost killing in Moscow. Russian communists are not inventing anything new – the same old scenario. Putin needed total mobilization, and he started it. Ukraine had nothing to do with this terrorist attack.
@Laura, I wonder if Russia and China have made a similar pact with all the Perpestinian terror groups to the one Italy, Switzerland, and who knows who else made in the ’70s.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/secret-diaries-of-arafat-come-to-light-confirming-pact-with-italians/
Could it be the “Islamic State” wants in?
I love this tweet I saw on X:
Ted keeps doubling down on his support for hamas’ ally Putin and Russia. I can’t begin to understand why. He accepts any propaganda coming out of the Kremlin. Russia was warned weeks ago by our government about an attack in Moscow. He failed to heed the warning or perhaps chose to let it play out so that he can blame Ukraine and use it to justify further aggression against Ukrainians. No one’s buying that Ukraine is responsible. It doesn’t even make sense. Another possibility is that this was a false flag operation conducted by the FSB such as the 1999 Moscow apartment bombing to create a justification for the Chechen war. Putin has been exposed as a weakened failure who can’t protect Russians after trying to project an image of strength and power and protector of Russia for years. Perhaps Russia should have been focused on actual threats instead of invading Ukraine and expending its resources on a pointless imperialist war against a country which presented no threat to it. Anyway, it’s karma for Moscow’s support for hamas.
Absolute BS. IS did it. Means, motive ,opportunity. Russia is aiding Iran and its proxies. IS-K considers them public enemy number 1, since their followers are being mercilessly hunted down and killed in Iran. Russia has also been providing some sort of assistance, although mainly humanitarian I think, to the Taliban government in Afghanistan. This regime is public enemy number 2. for IS-K. Last but not least, the Russians in Syria and Iraq, together with thei Syrian and Iranian allies, have been waging war against the IS chapters in both of these countries, killing many ISIS fighters in the process. IS peopleare also being massacred in Yemen by the Houthis, who are also receiving some Russian support.
As Netanyahu once explained to the U.S. Congress, sometimes the enemy of your enemy is just another enemy.
Many westerners don’t understand how deep is the mutual animosity between Sunnis and Shiites in the Islamic world. Russia is allied with the Shiites in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, etc. That is intolerable to the SUNNI ‘militants” associated with IS and/or al-Quaeda.