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Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Monday that the March 23 attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow was carried out by Islamic militants, but reiterated his claim that Ukraine had a role to play in the carnage that has claimed 139 lives.

During a Kremlin meeting, aimed at measures taken in response to the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades, Putin said investigators are yet to determine who “ordered” the attack that was carried out by “radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has fought for centuries”. The Russian President’s remarks were posted on Telegram.

“The question that arises is who benefits from this? This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime,” Putin said.

He said the purpose of the attack was to “sow panic” and could also be intended to show the Ukrainian population that “not all is lost for the Kyiv regime” with the Russia-Ukraine war currently in its fourth year.

Earlier, Putin said that the Moscow concert hall attackers had made their way to the Bryansk region, about 340 km southwest of Moscow, to try to escape to Ukraine. He further claimed that some people on the Ukrainian side had prepared to let the four attackers cross the border from Russia.

Ukraine has dismissed the Russian President’s allegations, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Putin of attempting to divert blame.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and released bodycam footage of what looked to be the four gunmen, who opened fire on civilians at the Crocus City Hall – a music venue and a shopping centre – on March 23. The Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) – an affiliate of the terror outfit active in parts of Central Asia and primarily Afghanistan – has claimed they were behind the attack.

US officials said they had warned Russia earlier this month of an imminent attack, a message that Moscow appears to have pushed aside.

Now, France has also joined the US in saying intelligence indicated the Islamic State was behind the attack. French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Monday that available information indicated “indeed that it was an entity of the Islamic State that instigated this attack”.

Macron also warned Moscow against any “exploitation” of the attack, saying it would be “cynical and counterproductive for Russia to use this context to try and turn it against Ukraine”.

The US, has meanwhile, renewed its statement that there is no evidence to support Ukraine had anything to do with the attack. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the terrorist attack was conducted by the Islamic State and that Putin “understands that” and “knows that very well”. She also expressed her condolences to those whose loved ones were killed in the attack and those who were injured.

As many as 11 people have been detained in the Moscow concert hall attack, of which four have been charged. Three of the four suspects pleaded guilty during a court appearance on Sunday. All four men are citizens of Tajikistan, and have been remanded in pre-trial custody until May 22.

Meanwhile, Russia’s failure to avert the Moscow attack has raised questions about its security lapses. Following the Moscow hostage massacre in 2002 and the Beslan school siege in 2004, the Crocus City Hall attack is the latest brutality claimed by jihadists under Putin’s regime, which has put the role of security services under the scanner.

Admitting that the attack was carried out by the Islamic State would be to acknowledge that the image of an “omnipotent and the all-power security services control everything is a myth”, AFP reported, quoting Tatiana Kastoueva-Jean, Russia specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

She said that Putin’s priority is to divert attention from “security lapses” and rally “all those who are still hesitating on the domestic scene” to the need to fight Ukraine and the West, the AFP report added.

(With reports from Reuters and The Associated Press)