Russia - threadbanned users in OP

About 3 hrs ago, I was talking to a friend in Russia, and the word there is that it was done by the US, through Ukraine, using the Telegram channel, as described by one of the captured gunmen. But what they think is that the 4 guys were stupid and lured by easy money. No mention of ISIS. not yet anyhow.

Exactly!!! This was a professional hit, for sure, and for the people carrying it out, it was not their first time either. Apparently, 3 gunmen concentrated on the killing while one laid the explosives, spread the fire accelerant, and locked the escape exits. Military precision written all over it. These were not amateurs. The miracle was that the death toll was not much higher, obviously they planned to kill many more in the ensuing fire, which later collapsed the roof.

It's also pretty unbelievable that Isis terrorists would be captured alive. They die in holy combat for their rewards in the afterlife. It's their raison d'être and why they're hard to defend against. Why give all that up to be captured by the Russian FSB above all organisations? It seems like nonsense to me.

Surely the most believable theory is that Isis carried out this and the perpetrators are also dead.

The rest is a Russian performance to garner some sort of positive spin for their war effort out of what is a bad situation for them.

It was a certainty that some would be 'captured 'no way could Putin admit the shooters got away ,he would feel he had lost some face so he had to produce the 'culprits ' to make it look like he had the situation under control .We might never know the real story like so often in that country .

wrong the soviet union collapsed because it could not compete with the western capitalist economies and because the occupied european countries were able to break free and the soviet union was too weak to do anything about it. This time the russian federation may collapse because of Putin and his illegal invasion of Ukraine and Russia will again not be able to survive without western trade and technology and Putin gobbling up the small russian economy to finance an illegal war

Irish man reported to be doing good work in Ukraine:

Well considering the efficiency and competency of that horrendous attack, you'd have to assume these guys are very experienced.

You simply don't become experienced by blowing yourself up the first chance you get, so I assume that sort of philosophy is left to those considered useless cannon fodder and not competent soldiers.

Trump and the Crocus City Hall owner ..

Anne as usual hits nail on head .. Donald Trump wants Ukraine to lose. Why??

Hi president Trump, goodbye Alaska!

Quote" So they think it is fair game for a foreign power(eg CIA) to mount a terrorist operation in Moscow?

If they believe that that has happened,what do they think should be the reaction? They will believe what the Kremlin tells them to believe (at least publicly) because they are powerless to do otherwise. They don't really have much say in it. The friend I was talking to, is convinced that the evil west, US, CIA, UK etc is behind all of Russia's problems including the war. Although there's a slight change in the story now, what Putin is doing is only because he is being forced to do, because you know, he's not really that kind of person at all.

How do they imagine they can prevent it happening again?(hint:stop pathetic wars of aggression and territorial acquisition against your neighbours,perhaps so that you can protect your own population?) All depends on Putin, and he has convinced them that he's the only one who can protect them against the evil west, US etc. Putin cannot prevent it happening again, and neither does he want to. Its his main leverage on power. However, he does need to keep it at an "acceptable" level, failure to do this might lead people to think that maybe, he's not the right man for the job.

Edit:This may well be something the CIA could orchestrate and keep its hands clean but I don't see how it could be perceived to be in their interest. I'm sure that the CIA (and others) are working every way they can against Putin. I don't know what their thinking was to give Putin advance warning of the ISIS attack, unless it was to alert Americans or others who might have been caught up in it? It's pretty standard practice for Embassys to give warnings to its citizens about impending events. But to officially warn Putin? For sure, there was method in their madness, maybe to dis- associate themselves from it and prove they had nothing to do with it?

Noone suspected Putin of ever staging comparable events in the West (maybe he has considered it and is now projecting?) Putin has been waging war on the west for many years and in many country's, and western Intelligence agencys are fully aware of this. Any attacks, assassinations or attacks like the Moscow theatre etc. will have Putin's fingerprints all over them

ps If this is the start of an Isis campaign in Russia ,can they fight on that front as well? How much help would the West be Putiprepared to give? ISIS has been fighting Putins military anywhere they have met in the world, so it's nothing new, but the theatre attack was a different matter. Taking the fight to Moscow was a big statement. And it proves to be the first of many, then Putin will have no choice but to try and contain it. Putin cannot expect any help whatsoever from the west, UK, US etc.

What does it say about security around Moscow and for Putin himself?

Putin and his Windows again..