Although I agree with your assertion, let's take Putin's words with a grain of salt. Putin mismanaged this situation horribly and his people are justifiably outraged at him. This may be an effort to shift the blame to a convenient old scapegoat. I think this is part of Putin's fight for his political life.
"Putin mismanaged this situation horribly and his people are justifiably outraged at him."
Once the hostages were taken, he was in a terrible situation. I am not sure how he could have pulled this off without a decent % of the russian pop. thinking he had not done well. Can you imagine if this had dragged out and bodies of dehydrated children were brought out?