Posted originally on the CTH on March 23, 2024 | Sundance 

Unfortunately, as expected the death toll in the Crocus City Hall theater attack has doubled.  Russian authorities now put the death toll at 140, with hundreds more injured. The death toll is still expected to continue climbing as rescue workers continue working to find bodies amid the rubble.

This story is a matrix of horror and terrorism.  The originators and the motive behind the attack presents as a network of extremely sketchy actors.  Do not rush to judgement.  Allow the data to surface.  Expanded discussion after the facts as presented.

The four terrorist gunmen responsible for the attack were tracked as they fled Moscow and captured in the Bryansk Region of Russia.  They were traveling by car southeast away from Moscow toward the border with Ukraine.  According to interrogation video {LINK} two of the suspects claimed to be from Tajikistan and were recruited by an unidentified entity in Turkey to carry out the attack.

The claim is they were living in a hostel near north Moscow and were paid $5,000 each (500,000 rubles) to carry out the attack.  They were provided the weapons in the Moscow suburb, with instructions to drive southeast to Ukraine for safe harbor after the attack.  If accurate and/or truthful, each of these elements creates a datapoint for the Russian intelligence apparatus to identify the source.

The fact that they were captured alive, indicates the people/entity who organized and directed their terror mission wanted them to be captured alive.   The fact they were instructed to head to Ukraine, indicates the people/entity who organized their terror mission wanted them to be intercepted en route to Ukraine.

In an address to the country on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said 11 people had been arrested, including four gunmen suspected of carrying out the attack. President Putin linked what he called a “barbaric terrorist attack” to Ukraine in a carefully worded statement released Saturday.  President Putin expressed deep condolences and declared Sunday a National Day of Mourning for those lost.

The terrorists, he said, had “tried to hide and move towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border.”  The Russian President vowed to hold those responsible for the “barbaric terrorist act” to account.

“All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished. Whoever they are, whoever is guiding them,” Putin said.

“We will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this strike against Russia, against our people.”

.

Unfortunately, there are a myriad of mutually aligned interests who would benefit by provoking Russia into the type of retaliation that can provide them benefit.  That’s why we should wait to assemble more information.

The primary geopolitical players who might organize and benefit from the terror attack would be, USA, Ukraine, Turkey and Israel, or a combination therein.  Each nation has an independent motive that aligns with the larger objective to draw Russia into a bigger conflict with the “West.”

Whoever told the terrorists to seek safe harbor in Ukraine, wanted to give Russian President Putin the publicly pressuring impression that Ukraine was involved.  This is a big datapoint that must be overlaid against the interests of those who organized the attack.

While the Muslim Brotherhood does not like Vladimir Putin at all, the organizer of this attack was not likely to be ISIS-K as the media keep saying.

Keep watching.