They were seen on videos from the concert hall, and then one of them was allegedly seen during the detaining in the forest. There is no confirmation of that as of now except for the blue sweaters, jeans and black watch straps. This is a set worn by every other Russian man.
But the experience of life in Russia itself confirms that “guys in blue sweaters” do exist.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1772724050042691976
IS-K consider most of the world to be their enemies. Russia is high up on their list, along with the US, Europe, Israel, Jews, Christians, Shia Muslims, the Taliban and all rulers of Muslim-majority states, who they consider to be “apostates”.
Islamic State's hostility to Russia goes back to the Chechen wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Moscow's forces devastated the Chechen capital Grozny.
More recently, Russia entered the Syrian civil war on the side of its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, and the Russian air force has carried out countless bombings of rebel and civilian positions, killing large numbers of Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
In Afghanistan, IS-K view Russia as being an ally of the Taliban, which is why they attacked the Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022.
They also bear a grudge for the 10 years of brutal Soviet occupation of that country from 1979-89.
Then there is the situation inside Russia itself.
Russia is viewed by IS-K as very much a Christian country and their video posted after the Moscow attack talks about killing Christians.
Tajik and other Central Asian migrant workers are sometimes subject to a degree of harassment and suspicion by the FSB as it seeks to head off terrorist attacks.
Finally, Russia - a nation currently distracted by its full-scale war with its neighbour Ukraine - may simply have been a convenient target of opportunity for IS-K, a place where weapons were available and their enemy's guard was down.
We checked the rumors. It turns out this is true. In personal conversations, Dmitry Peskov, Sergei Kiriyenko and Nikolai Patrushev expressed doubts about the involvement of the Kyiv regime in the crime.
At the same time, of course, they do not express their opinion publicly and will strictly adhere to the official version. And Nikolai Platonovich, in order not to break the chain of command, even confirmed on camera the Ukrainian trace in the terrorist attack. True, he smiled ironically at this.
Alexander Bortnikov will actively promote the Ukrainian version. He is glad that the president did not punish him for the tragedy in Crocus (although there were every reason
[see below]). Please note that the sources that provided us with this information are very reliable. Among them, by the way, there are those who communicate with the press of countries unfriendly to Russia.
As for us, we are not going to somehow argue with the official version. But against the backdrop of the tragedy that the terrorist attack in Crocus brought to us personally, we really want to know the truth. We will learn new details of this terrible event.
https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/3841
Vladimir Putin wanted to visit the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Sunday, March 24. There he was going to pray and put a candle in memory of the victims in Crocus City Hall. But the president was persuaded not to go by security.
“There were signals that Vladimir Vladimirovich could be killed. So we provided maximum security for the president, practically “closed” him in Novo-Ogaryovo. He put a candle there. It's no big deal,” a high-ranking FSO official told us.
He also confirmed our information that the FSO gave the FSB a warning about a possible terrorist attack three days before the tragedy in Crocus. And he does not understand “why no measures were taken at all.” In addition, the interlocutor confirmed the data that Putin's security has been strengthened. By the way, this is why the President held a meeting on the terrorist attack in Crocus online.
When asked who might want Vladimir Vladimirovich dead, the FSO official did not answer the question. Our source in the Kremlin, for his part, believes that the president is now threatened by many enemies. But two are the greatest at the moment: internal ill-wishers who want to sow chaos in the country, and radical Islamists.
