BEIJING, March 26. /TASS/. Washington’s aid to the Kiev regime will be undermined if investigators establish Ukraine’s involvement in the terror attack on a crowded concert at the Crocus City Hall music venue in suburban Moscow, Wang Xiaoquan, an expert with the Institute of Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times newspaper.
According to him, the US and the West hope that the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) terrorist organization is involved because "if Ukraine is found to be linked to the deadly shooting in the concert hall, they will lose legitimacy in supporting Ukraine." The expert thinks that it is unlikely for the IS to have masterminded the attack because the situation in Syria has already stabilized while conflicts in the Middle East mainly involve Israel and Palestine.
Li Wei, an expert from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the newspaper that the terrorist attack did not quite follow the usual pattern used by the IS. That said, he noted that the involvement of the Ukrainian government was unlikely, but if any links with extremists forces in Ukraine are established, "it would put Ukraine in an unfavorable situation."
According to the Global Times, some analysts note that "the possibility of extremists in Ukraine participating in the attack cannot be ruled out, given the pessimism within Ukraine due to the situation on the battlefield and decreasing support from the West." That said, the experts think that it is premature to assign blame for the attack before investigation results are revealed.
The possibility of the IS being involved in the attack still remains, said Cui Heng, a scholar from the Shanghai-based China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation. He reiterated that in January in Iran, two IS members detonated explosive belts in the crowd and killed nearly 100 people.
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. The current death toll is 139, and 182 people were injured. Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared "a window" in the border especially for the terrorists to cross undetected. He promised to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack on Crocus City Hall.