View from China: “If any extremist forces in Ukraine were found to be involved, it would put Ukraine in an unfavorable situation”

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Russia skeptical of  US’ claim of Islamic State links to attack, writes Chinese ‘The Global Times’. The US and the West blamed the Islamic State as the perpetrator of the attack and denied any Ukraine involvement. However, this explanation has been met with skepticism by the Russian side.

On Sunday, Moscow's Basmanny District Court ordered pre-trial detention for four suspects, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, charged with acts of terrorism in connection with the terrorist attack, according media reports.

The attack at Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow on Friday has killed at least 137 people.

During a televised address on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said 11 people involved in the attack have been apprehended, including the four suspected attackers. They tried to hide and moved toward Ukraine, where "a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,'' Putin said, according to Russian media TASS.

The US and the West hope the blame is on a terrorist organization because if Ukraine is found to be linked to the deadly shooting in the concert hall, they will lose legitimacy in supporting Ukraine, Wang Xiaoquan, an expert with the Institute of Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

The US' rushing to deny Ukraine's involvement has also led to questions. In an article for kp.ru, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the US of trying to "bail Ukraine out" by mentioning the IS terror group.

Wang believes that it would be a bit far-fetched for the IS to be the mastermind behind the attack as the situation in Syria has already stabilized, and the conflicts in the Middle-East are mainly between Israel and Palestine. "If IS were to carry out a terrorist attack, wouldn't it make more sense to target Israel instead of Russia?" said Wang.

Li Wei, an expert from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, also said the terror attack at the concert hall does not quite fit IS' previous attack pattern.

"Driven by religious extremism, members of  IS usually perpetrate 'lone wolf' or suicide attacks," said Li, noting that if IS changes its core characteristics of religious extremism, it would no longer be IS.

But if any extremist forces in Ukraine were found to be involved, it would put Ukraine in an unfavorable situation, said Li.

An escalation on the Russia-Ukraine conflict may also affect the security situation in other regions. Terrorists may see geopolitical conflicts as an opportunity to launch attacks, said analysts, warning more countries to keep vigilant.

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