President Vladimir Putin and his security services continue to allege Kyiv and the West were involved somehow in last Friday’s attack on the Crocus City Hall, despite an Islamic State (IS) group affiliate having claimed responsibility, France24 reported, being quoted by IPN.

Ukraine and its Western allies have branded as absurd accusations they were involved. “My uncle used to say ... that the best manure salesmen often carry their samples in their mouths,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “Russian officials seem to be pretty good manure salesmen,” Kirby said, denouncing what he called Russia's “nonsense propaganda.”

Reuters reported that Kirby said Islamic State was solely responsible for the attack. “In fact, the United States tried to help prevent this terrorist attack and the Kremlin knows this,” he said.

The United States had publicly warned earlier in March that it had intelligence that “extremists” were planning an imminent attack in Moscow. Kirby said it had also provided written warning to Russian security services on March 7 at 11:15 a.m. Three days before the attack, Putin dismissed Western warnings of a potential extremist attack as “blackmail.”

In dissonance with his only ally in Europe, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the attackers were caught on the Belarusian segment of the border with Russia, which contradicts the Kremlin’s “Ukrainian” version. Russia’s FSB security service said it arrested the gunmen as they tried to flee to Ukraine.

Moreover, Russia admitted in recent days that there were messages from the American side, but they sought to downplay their importance in order to disregard them.

The attack, followed by fire, on spectators in the Crocus City Hall, where a concert was due last Friday, left 140 people dead. The number of those who needed medical assistance climbed to over 380.