Former CIA agent: Putin putting blame on Ukraine for Moscow attack is ‘nonsense’

Former CIA officer Mark Polymeropoulos said it was “nonsense” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to blame Ukraine for the Moscow concert hall shooting.

Polymeropoulos dismissed Putin’s attempts to link the militant group that killed at least 133 people at the Crocus City complex near Moscow on Friday to Ukraine, a country that Putin’s forces are currently invading.

“So today we heard President Vladimir Putin refer to Ukraine in a roughly five-minute speech and claim that terrorists were actually trying to cross the border into Ukraine.” he told MSNBC’s Alex Witt on Saturday. “There is absolutely no evidence for this. And in the last hour or two, we have also seen some deepfakes being produced on Russian television networks that appear to involve Ukrainian security officials.” . And, of course, all this is nonsense.”

The day after the venue attack, 11 people involved in the incident, including four directly involved, were arrested, and suspicions of Ukraine’s involvement began to emerge in Russia. President Putin repeated parts of it during his speech on Saturday.

“All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed them, have been found and detained,” Putin said. “They were heading towards Ukraine in an attempt to hide, but preliminary data indicates that a passageway was prepared on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.”

Polymeropoulos said there were multiple reasons why Putin made this claim. He used his speech to deflect from the “incompetence” of Russia’s security services, step up the crackdown on opposition, and create an opportunity to mobilize more people for the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Of course, to deflect from the incompetence of the Russian security services,” he said. “But unfortunately there are some points in which I think President Putin could take advantage of this. There is the possibility of mobilization, as well as additional crackdowns on dissidents within Russia.” Let’s not forget the casualties of Russian soldiers. They need to be mobilized. Perhaps in the coming days President Vladimir Putin will call for more people They will try to take advantage of it.”