Lukashenko contradicts Putin’s claims about Moscow attackers fleeing to Ukraine

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko mentioned Tuesday that the alleged perpetrators within the Moscow live performance corridor assault had been initially fleeing towards Belarus, not Ukraine, within the aftermath of the bloodbath on Friday.

Lukashenko’s remarks contradict assertions made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has tried to counsel Ukraine was concerned within the assault, partly, by claiming that the gunmen had been fleeing within the course of Ukraine following the assault.

The Islamic State has claimed accountability for the assault, which has been additional confirmed by the USA. Ukrainian officers have additionally denied accusations of it taking part in any position within the atrocity, during which practically 140 individuals had been killed and dozens extra had been injured.

At a press convention on Tuesday, Lukashenko touted the safety measures that Belarus took following the assault, together with some measures undertaken in coordination with Russia. He mentioned when the attackers noticed the safety measures, they realized they’d not be capable of escape into Belarus.

“That’s why they couldn’t enter Belarus. They noticed it. In order that they turned away and went to the part of the Ukrainian-Russian border,” Lukashenko mentioned concerning the perpetrators, based on the Belarusian state media outlet BELTA.

Putin and different Kremlin officers have aggressively pushed the narrative that Ukraine was concerned within the assault.

On Tuesday, the pinnacle of the Federal Safety Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, doubled down on Putin’s unsubstantiated declare that the assault couldn’t have been carried out by the Islamic State alone and that the Ukrainians someway assisted, based on the Russian state media outlet TASS.

“The first information we acquired from the detainees confirms this,” he mentioned, repeating Putin’s declare that “the bandits themselves meant to go overseas, particularly to the territory of Ukraine.”

The assault got here simply days after Putin secured one other time period in workplace, in an election broadly repudiated as undemocratic and orchestrated by Putin and his allies.

Shortly after the assault, reviews circulated that Putin had dismissed U.S. warnings of extremist assaults in Moscow days forward of the incident.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia issued a safety alert warning on March 7 that “extremists” had been planning an assault in Moscow and suggested people to keep away from giant gatherings over the next two days. 

Three days earlier than the assault, Putin known as the embassy’s alerts “provocative” and “outright blackmail” meant to wreck Russian society.