Russia says US 'boxed itself into corner' by blaming ISIS for Moscow terror attack

News Desk - The Cradle

Washington maintains that the militants behind the attack belonged to 'ISIS-K,' an Afghanistan-based armed group whose members have deep ties with the US armed forces and intelligence agencies

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the US government of backing itself "into a corner” for announcing that ISIS was to blame for the Crocus City Hall terror attack even as the situation was still in progress.

"The very fact that within the first 24 hours [after the attack], even before the fire was put out, the Americans started screaming that it wasn't Ukraine, I think, is a piece of incriminating evidence. I can't classify it otherwise; it is evidence in and of itself," the Kremlin official said during a Sputnik radio broadcast.

"The second fact to note concerns the clamor by the US that this assuredly was the work of ISIS," Zakharova highlighted. “Of course, the speed with which they were able to [come to such forthright conclusions] is astonishing. It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press, and draw a conclusion about who is to blame for this horribly bloody terrorist attack.”

She added that Washington's accusations “boxed themselves into a corner” because it allowed experts to “[remind] everyone else what ISIS really is.” "You are behind all those ISIS-type structures; you – the United States, Great Britain – yourselves brought them into being," she concluded.

Zakharova’s comments came on the heels of an announcement by the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, saying not only Ukraine but also the US and UK may have orchestrated the attack that killed 140 people, adding that investigators already have “concrete results.”

A US official said on the day of the attack that Washington “had no reason to doubt” the claim by ISIS that the group was responsible for the attack. Furthermore, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the White House had “no indication at this time that Ukraine or Ukrainians were involved.”

In a speech on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted a warning issued earlier in the month by the US embassy about a planned “terror attack” in Moscow as “provocative,” saying “these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.”

The US has used ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other related extremist groups to destabilize their enemies in the past, including during a major insurgency against Russia in Chechnya in the 1990s.

The US and Israel also used these groups in hopes of toppling the governments of Syria and Iraq. In 2015, Russia intervened militarily to prevent the fall of Syria to ISIS and other extremist groups.