what the fuck is happening in Russia?

The venue is apparently owned by Putin/Trump liaison and Miss Universe host Aras Agalarov.

Hmm

His company Crocus Group was the general contractor for two stadiums that hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches.

Crocus City Hall hosted the Miss Universe finals in 2013. Donald Trump attended the ceremony and met with the Agalarovs.

at least 40 dead

It feels just as likely to be a Russian mafia operation as anything else.

hmm

The attack followed a statement issued earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that urged the Americans to avoid crowded places in the Russian capital in view of an imminent attack, a warning that was repeated by several other Western embassies.

The fact that Ramzan Kadyrov was one of the first to condemn it suggests otherwise.

(xp)

remembering the moscow bombings that preceded the chechnya war - it would not be above putin to organize something like this

considering how much fodder it will provide for russian propaganda machine my bet is on putin, absolutely.

Islamic State have claimed responsibility on its Telegram channel for the attacks at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, Reuters is reporting.

Oh, that's nice they have a Telegram channel.. are they on TikTok as well?

Is that meant to be sarcastic? I would assume they are unless TikTok has banned them.

https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/caliphatetok-tiktok-continues-to-host-islamic-state-propaganda/#:~:text=New%20research%20by%20ISD%20reveals,TikTok%20without%20facing%20any%20consequences.

Does Telegram not ban self-avowed terror groups?

Hamas broadcasted October 7 on its telegram channels

Leaving aside where and why, a multi gunman attack is significantly unusual for IS no? That said the wikipedia list of their claimed recent attacks is longer and more varied than I thought it would be.

I'm sure it's trite to say, but the concert hall itself and the gunmen are so similar to the opening of Tenet...

Also similar to the Paris attack

What is the motive

Revenge for russia being in africa?

all the ghoulie villains from the past are coming back now for the big finale.

Did IS not mention why they did it when they claimed responsibility?

Okay found this: https://economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/why-did-isis-k-attack-a-moscow-theater/articleshow/108721361.cms

Or if you want something much longer https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/09/islamic-state-afghanistan-khorasan-propaganda-russia-ukraine-war/

THE #MOSCOW TERRORISTS: I’ve watched a half dozen videos of the terrorists action. They are attacking “Alpine style”, Fast & light. AK automatic rifles, poss IEDs & extra magazines in packs. Civilian clothes. No suicide bomb belts or vests & not fighting to death. People…

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) March 22, 2024

93 dead, likely to rise.

Russians claiming they apprehended (some of) the perpetrators preparing to cross the Ukrainian border. Oh-oh.

so I hear no police turned up until 30 minutes after the first gunshots were fired, and then it took 1 hour 20 mins for the Russian special forces to turn up. hmm

all Tadzhik nationals xposts

115 dead now

Ty Lukas

"All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed people, were found and detained. They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border. A total of 11 people were detained."

Man aren't they great at figuring this all out so quickly afterwards, shame about ignoring the warning from the enemy (US intel) days beforehand.

pretty cruel of IS to do this, there must be a lot of liberals twisting their guts inside out trying to pick a side

Putin has to find a way to blame the attacks on Ukraine. otherwise he’d have to pull forces out of the war to send them after Isis.

i wouldn’t trust any info from the russian government
it is quite interesting however how the chechens were able to apprehend the supposed terrorists so quickly and easily

new kinds of torture are being invented for these guys, I bet - apparently a video of one of their interrogations was published where the terrorist's ear was being cut off & he was forced to eat it (it says here in a Belgian newspaper)

oh cool!

That's not new, it happened in Django

that'll teach you not to sell any more forged Van Gogh originals in the Russian federation

good read: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-russia-president-1999-chechnya-apartment-bombings/30097551.html

how did these dudes let themselves be taken alive

I've still to read more fully on this so its not a strongly held opinion but one things that spring to mind is the people taken might not necessarily be the people who did it. That would be one reason they let themselves be taken alive, as they didn't know they were going to be taken. It is the one thing that is somewhat surprising

ie if they had escaped, it might be better to at least find someone to stand in for them

They were wearing the exact same shirts in the pre-photo (in front of the IS flag) and in the arrest/torture screenshots. I don't know if they thought they would get away with it and not be dehumanized into nothing for the rest of their lives but they were stupid enough to do this in the first place, not thinking fits.

stop making me conspiracy-pilled

Fwiw I don't think its a conspiracy and I think the attack is almost certainly what it looks like. Its really more like if some Tajiks did it and those particular Tajiks couldn't be located would some other Tajiks do? But given everyone knew an attack was going to take place beforehand its more than likely they were easy enough to locate afterwards. It is weird they missed the opportunity for martyrdom though, that seems to be an intrinsic and fundamental error

they were working on the kill now, martyr later plan

starting to think that perhaps putin wasn’t behind it, they’d plant a stronger link to ukraine
so far the attempts to pin it on ukraine seem pretty desperate (“ukraine denies it, so it must be ukraine!”)

They've pivoted to 'we know IS did it but WHO hired them? I think we would know who'

yeah, they're now implying that the US, UK and Ukraine are somehow behind it, based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever

faking evidence does take time. i’m sure we’ll have some “authentic” confessions soon

lol at lukashenko saying the terrorists tried to flee to ukraine because it would be preferable to belarus
did he not get the memo

its not unlikely that Putin (and inner circle) genuinely thinks the US is behind the attack, because the US is behind everything (including Ukraine)