Moscow Concert Terror:  Kremlin's Assertions That Others Were Behind ISIS Attack 'Cynical', U.S. Says

The United States on Wednesday once again pushed back against the Kremlin officials' latest statements over last week's Moscow concert attack as "cynical", TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"These comments from multiple Kremlin officials are irresponsible, they’re cynical, and it’s just another example of President Putin and the rest of his team exploiting a national tragedy to try to justify the illegal war against Ukraine," State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the Friday attack, which claimed as many as 143 lives, but senior Russian officials, without citing evidence, have alleged that Ukraine, the United States and Britain had a role in organizing the strike.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that it was "extremely hard to believe" that Islamic State would have had the capacity to launch an attack on a Moscow concert hall adding that the West had rushed to pin responsibility on the terrorist group,as a way of deflecting blame from Ukraine and the Western governments that support Kyiv.

"I’ve seen those comments as well as comments from President Putin as well as comments from others claiming that any host of countries were behind this terrorist attack. And I think it’s clear that these claims are categorically false; I think the Russian Government knows that the claims are categorically false,"  Miller said.

He went on to add, "Ukraine wasn’t behind these attacks.  The UK wasn’t behind these attacks. The United States wasn’t behind these attacks.  In fact, the United States warned Russia about the possibility of these attacks in advance, because we wanted to see if the attacks could be averted, and ultimately prevent a loss of life from the Russian people – or by the Russian people."

Russian security forces have arrested four men, all citizens of Tajikistan, and accused them of carrying out the assault.