After terrorist attack: “Putin is trying to distract from his own failures”

After the terrorist attack, Russian President Putin tried to establish connections between the attackers and Ukraine, says military and Russia expert Lange. He also doesn’t believe in speculation about Moscow’s authorship.

ARD: After the letter of responsibility, the terrorist organization “Islamic State” also published a video, claiming responsibility for this attack. Does this mean you have identified the perpetrators?

Nico Lange: Yes, this corresponds to the pattern known from ISPK (“Islamic State Khorasan Province”, an offshoot of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”). Both the warnings and the letters of confession and now also this video are authentic. It must be assumed that the ISPK carried out this attack.

Warning of attack “wiped away”

ARD: And why does Russian President Vladimir Putin still link Ukraine to the attack?

Long: Putin was warned about this attack or such an attack on a public event. And he brushed off that warning. He almost joked that it was all an attempt at blackmail.

Imagine this for us: If a head of state or a head of government is warned about a terrorist attack, then says that it’s all wrong – and then this attack actually happens. That is the situation in Russia.

Putin is trying to distract from his own failures and react particularly exaggeratedly now. And he has focused his entire security apparatus on the war of aggression against Ukraine. That’s why he’s now trying to construct traces there. But this is clearly constructed.

“Nothing that points to Ukraine”

ARD: In your opinion, is there nothing that could point to Ukraine?

Long: No, there is nothing that points to Ukraine. All terrorism experts confirm that not only is there a terrorism threat from the ISPK, but that these letters of responsibility and the videos are also authentic. We should not repeat Russian propaganda.

“Not good at it, terrorist attacks to prevent”

ARD: What does it say about the state of the security authorities in Russia that this attack occurred despite warnings from the US secret services?

Long: Russia is good at forcing confessions out of people and overreacting. But Russia is not good at preventing terrorist attacks. We already know this from the past.

And we see this pattern now: the terrorist suspects were brutally tortured. When you see how they look in court, you can imagine what the Russian security apparatus did to them.

But it took security authorities an hour to even get to the Crocus concert hall, while people were being murdered there and the building was being set on fire. The security authorities in Russia subsequently compensate for their mistakes with excessive brutality.

Authorship of Russia?

ARD: The CDU defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter has also suggested that Russia itself may have been responsible for this attack. Do you think that’s possible?

Long: We are always very quick to suspect – and this is perhaps also due to the speculation that always springs up on the Internet and social media – that there are huge conspiracies behind everything.

In this case, from my point of view, the situation is clear today: The “Islamic State” in this form from Khorasan prepared and carried out this attack.

And there is also a risk of terrorism for all of Europe. This doesn’t just affect Russia. That is the situation – and I believe that other things can no longer be interpreted into it.

The interview was conducted by Liane Koßmann, NDR. It has been lightly edited for the written version.