The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said at the Third International Forum on Strategic Communications that Russia had full information about preparations for the terrorist attack at least since February 15, including details about the terrorists' routes. He emphasized that this information came from the group's intelligence in Syria and reached Moscow. Budanov claims that Russia had information about where the militant groups were coming from and how they were moving through its territory.
He also suggested that the Russian regime could have allowed a terrorist attack to carry out a "polite struggle" to remove a few high-ranking officials, or underestimated the scale of a possible disaster. Budanov emphasized that Russia tried to "bind" a Ukrainian trace to the terrorist attack, but this is absurd.
Regarding the terrorist attack in "Crocus City Hall", intelligence considers it a provocation of the Putin regime. They reject Ukraine's accusations and call it an attempt to shift the blame onto others. The leadership of the Ukrainian army also denies involvement in this incident.
Putin's response to the terrorist attack, which he blamed on Ukraine, was dismissed as absurd by representatives of Ukrainian intelligence. After the incident in "Crocus City Hall", the Russian State Duma is considering the possibility of returning the death penalty, but this initiative still needs a deeper study.
