Washington and London were too quick to pin the blame on Islamists, George Galloway has said
The claim by the US, UK and their Western allies that the deadly terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall outside Moscow was carried out by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) was most likely a “lie,” British MP George Galloway said on Sunday.
On his Mother of All Talk Shows (MOATS), he questioned the narrative propagated by Washington and its allies immediately after four gunmen stormed the concert venue outside of the Russian capital, killing over 130 people and leaving more than 180 injured.
Moscow has not yet commented on the potential organizers or their motives following the terrorist act.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who commented on the tragedy almost immediately after the attack, said Washington had seen “no indication” that Ukrainians were involved. Later, some Western media, including Reuters and CNN, reported that IS had claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack.
“When the US and the UK and others swiftly tried to reassure me that it was only ISIS [that] carried out this mass murder in Moscow, I knew automatically that they were lying,” Galloway said.
He then pointed to what he called suspicious and “unexplained” activities by some Western politicians and officials, including Kirby’s statement.
The British lawmaker drew particular attention to the fact that the US official had confirmed that Washington had called on its citizens to stay away from crowded places in Moscow as recently as the beginning of March.
Kirby did say that the US embassy in Russia had issued a security alert on March 7, warning that “extremists” were planning an imminent attack in Moscow. He still denied that it had anything to do with last Friday’s assault. “I don’t think that was related to this specific attack,” he said.
Galloway also pointed to the fact that former US President Barack Obama had paid a surprise visit to Downing Street just days before the Moscow attack. “No one, no one has explained the unannounced visit,” he said.
The UK media reported at the time of the visit that the former US leader had allegedly discussed a broad range of topics, including AI, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during an hour-long “courtesy visit.”
Another episode mentioned by Galloway involved US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who promised some “nice surprises on the battlefield” for Moscow this year. “Ukraine will make some very strong success,” she said in January, without providing any further comments on the issue.
Galloway cited these facts as “pieces of evidence” suggesting that “the US, its NATO allies and their proxy servant… [the] state of Ukraine… were in fact responsible for this mass murder.”
