Kremlin Claims Increase in Russians Joining Army to ‘Take Revenge’ for Crocus Attack – Ukrainian Intel Rubbishes Statement

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed Wednesday that more Russians are signing military contracts to fight in Ukraine in order to avenge the March 22 Crocus City Hall terrorist attack – an attack carried out by the Islamic State, but which the Kremlin has attempted to pin on Ukraine – where it has been conducting a full-scale invasion since Feb. 24, 2022.

“In Moscow and other Russian cities, the number of people willing to enlist in the Russian Armed Forces under contract has significantly increased,” the Russian Defense Ministry posted on Telegram, on April 3.

It claimed that over the past 10 days, about 16,000 citizens have signed contracts to participate in the so-called “special military operation” – the term the Kremlin uses to refer to its war in Ukraine – adding that “up to 1,700 people come to contract recruitment centers across the country every day to enlist in the military.”

According to Russia’s defense ministry, the alleged sharp jump is due to Russians’ desire to “avenge” those killed in the Islamic State’s Moscow region attack – which took the lives of 144 people. It said that more than 100,000 people have enlisted for military service under contract since the beginning of the year.

Speaking to Kyiv Post, Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), said that the Kremlin “regularly overstates these figures.”

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“These are just propaganda statements of the Kremlin regime that are detached from reality,” Yusov said.

Yusov said that the best revenge for the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall is “the overthrow of Putin's criminal regime, which did not protect its own citizens, or was involved in those events – at least because it was informed in advance of the threats, but did not intentionally counteract them.”

The United States had informed the Russian authorities two weeks in advance of the possibility of a terrorist attack taking place at Crocus City Hall – but three days before the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the US Embassy warning that: “extremists are planning to attack large crowds in Moscow, including concerts.”

Putin said that the warnings were simply a provocation to undermine him and his regime.

Kyiv regularly accuses the Kremlin of itself being a terrorist organization.

According to UN figures, at least 10,000 civilians and more than 560 children have been killed since the start of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.