UNDER REGISTRATION

Updated Tuesday, March 26, 2024-00:26

The brutal attack on a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, which claimed the lives of more than 137 people after members of an Afghan commando of the Islamic State opened fire with automatic weapons,

constitutes an execrable terrorist act that Vladimir Putin can used as a trigger to apply a qualitative leap with unpredictable effects in the context of the invasion of Ukraine

. To divert attention and thus cover up a security breach with terrible consequences - the p

But Putin disregarded the warnings that the US and the United Kingdom issued a few days ago of a possible extremist attack on Russian soil.

The Russian president yesterday insisted on linking the attack to Ukraine despite admitting that it was the work of "radical Islamists"

. Putin seems to be looking for another state of mind among the population like the one that brought him to power in 1999. The difference now is that the international community is aware of the threat posed by his figure, which

demands strengthening commitment to Ukraine in the interest of defending the universal values ​​of an open society

, reason and freedom.

The four Tajiks arrested for the attack were imprisoned yesterday accused of terrorism and with signs of torture. The Kremlin, which remains silent about these injuries, has reacted to the massacre by opening the door to a return of the death penalty and a new military mobilization. On the other hand,

The Russian president recognized the Islamic State as the author of the attack after omitting any mention of jihadist terrorism in his first intervention after the attack

. This terrorist organization broadcast images on its communication channels in which several attackers are seen shooting at will at the Crocus City Hall in the Russian capital. In any case, Putin insisted on a connection with Ukraine that has no basis. «We know who committed this atrocity against Russia and the people of it. “What interests us is the sponsor,” he stated.

Faced with an undisguised strategy of pointing fingers at kyiv,

The West must prepare for the certain and real possibility that the Russian leader will use the massacre to escalate the war.

. Hence the lacerating sensation that the last European Council produced. The slow decision-making of the EU, added to the blockage of aid by the US Congress, contrasts with the harshness of the recent attack launched by Moscow on the Ukrainian capital and Lviv; bombings, on the other hand, which are continuous.

Russia's drift towards an iron personal dictatorship and the

threat that Putin represents to the preservation of the values ​​of liberal democracy

, including the risk of war in Europe, must lead allies to a decisive investment of resources to strengthen cooperation with Ukraine.

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