Why Crocus City Hall terror attack spells reputational damage for West

Team Biden's immediate and insistent claims that Ukraine wasn't behind the Crocus City Hall terror attack amid the still ongoing investigation have been taken with a grain of salt by international observers, whereas the ISIS* statement of responsibility prompted assumptions of the CIA's involvement in the attack among netizens.

These reactions are not surprising given the Obama and Biden administration's messy foreign policy conduct, according to Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel.

He notes that US politicians, including Joe Biden and the Clintons, apparently have deep, unexplained ties to oligarchs and individuals inside Ukraine, which provide them with a motif to shield the Kiev regime at all costs.

When it comes to a possible jihadi trace, this again turns a spotlight on the US foreign policy establishment and NATO that have sown havoc in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia for decades, the analyst says.

"Vaunted (and patently undeserved) Nobel Peace laureate Barack Obama spent eight long years upending national governments in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere to the profound detriment of American interests," Ortel highlights.

The controversy over the 2022 Nord Stream attack also dealt a blow to Team Biden's credibility: If Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh is right, Joe Biden and his aides could be complicit in nothing short of an act of international terrorism. So far, neither Europeans nor Washington have found the "real" culprits.

*Terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries.

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⚡️ Putin: We know who committed the attack in Crocus City Hall, we are interested who the ordering customer is.

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⚡️Vladimir Putin: Through various channels, the United States is trying to convince everyone that there is allegedly no trace of Kiev in the bloody terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall, that it was ISIS.

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❗️WATCH: Vladimir Putin holds a meeting on the measures taken after the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall.

Watch the livestream here or follow the link to the Sputnik's website for more details

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⚡️Putin called the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been fighting Russia since 2014 at the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.

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⚡️Putin: A new 'Hitler Youth' is being created in Ukraine.

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⚡️Vladimir Putin: We need to answer the question why the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine after committing a crime in the Crocus City Hall, who was waiting for them there?

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⚡️Those supporting Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices to terror, but there are many questions, Vladimir Putin said.

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Results of the investigation indicate that the terrorist attack in Crocus city hall was planned, resulting in 139 deaths, Russian Investigative Committee head Bastrykin said.

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The investigation has established a complete chronology of the events in the Crocus city hall, Bastrykin said.

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The defendants in the Crocus terrorist attack provided detailed testimony about the instigators and those who assisted in its preparation, Bastrykin added.

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EU intelligence cooperating with Russian Special Services after Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, according to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

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❗️Key points from Putin’s speech at the meeting on the case of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall:

▪️The Russian Armed Forces are holding the initiative along the entire front, the “counteroffensive” of the Ukrainian troops has failed, Kiev is trying to get money for itself, and those who support the Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices in terror, but there are a lot of questions.

▪️Those supporting Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices to terror, but there are many questions, Vladimir Putin said.

▪️We need to answer the question why the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine after committing a crime in the Crocus City Hall, who was waiting for them there?

▪️A new 'Hitler Youth' is being created in Ukraine.

▪️Putin called the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been fighting Russia since 2014 at the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime.

▪️Through various channels, the United States is trying to convince everyone that there is allegedly no trace of Kiev in the bloody terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall, that it was ISIS.

▪️We know who committed the attack in Crocus City Hall, we are interested who the ordering customer is.

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▪️How Vladimir Putin called to form a global anti-ISIS coalition nearly a decade ago

▪️Did US ‘have a hand’ in creating ISIS?

▪️ISIS-Ukraine ties: Documented by Western media

▪️The Ukraine - Jihadist connection: Who is Abdul-Hakim Shishani?

▪️Safe haven for terrorist groups? ISIS members quietly lived in Ukraine for over year

▪️Hungary's Foreign Minister Szijjarto stresses realism over ideology in energy policy at Atomexpo Forum in Sochi

▪️'No one can control Gaza without Hamas' approval' - expert

▪️US and Japan look to revamp military alliance amid growing push to encircle China

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❗️The key points from Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin’s report to Putin on the investigation into the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall:

▪️139 people dead, of which 40 were from gunshot wounds, 45 from the fire;

▪️A complete chronology of events has been established: the terrorists arrived at Crocus City Hall at 19.58 (local time), left the building at 20.11;

▪️two AK-74s, more than 500 rounds of ammunition, 28 magazines and bottles with gasoline residues were found;

▪️Three arrested accomplices provided the militants with an apartment and a car;

▪️The terrorist attack was carefully planned and prepared; all the accused, during interrogation and in court, admitted guilt in preparing a terrorist attack;

▪️The contents of all fire protection systems are examined to determine whether safety requirements were violated.

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US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller insisted during a press briefing that Israel has not violated international law in its military operation in Gaza.

“We have not found them [Israel] to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance,” the official claimed.

Meanwhile, at least 32,226 people have been killed and 74,518 more injured in Gaza since the escalation of the Palestine-Israel conflict in October 2023, according to the latest estimates by the Gaza Health Ministry.

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The European Union supports Ukraine not out of love for Ukrainian people but for the sake of its own interests, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

"We cannot afford [for] Russia to win this war. Otherwise the US and European interests will be very damaged. It is not a matter of generosity alone … of supporting Ukraine because we love Ukrainian people. It is in our own interest. And it is also in the interest of the US as a global player," Borrell said in an interview with CNN.

Western countries have been providing military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict. In April 2022, Russia sent a diplomatic note to all NATO countries on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian strikes.

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‘Justice is bound to come’: Donetsk psychiatrist offers words of support to the families and loved ones of Crocus City Hall victims.

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France's disruption of a UN Security Council meeting on the 25th anniversary of NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia was an act of diplomatic aggression, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia.

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