Alexander Lukashenko says Moscow concert attackers ‘tried to flee to Belarus’

The Crocus City Hall terrorist attackers tried to flee to Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko said in a statement undermining Vladimir Putin.

The Belarusian dictator’s remarks contradict claims by the Kremlin and top Russian security officials that the attackers were backed by Ukraine and tried to escape there as part of a pre-arranged plan.

Speaking to Belarus media, Mr Lukashenko said he closed the border with Russia following a personal request from Mr Putin in the aftermath of the atrocity.

“He asked me, ‘will you help me close [the Russian-Belarusian border]?’” Lukashenko said in remarks carried by the official Belta news agency. “He said, ‘I will. We’re doing everything’. That was the conversation.”

“That’s why they turned around and went toward the Ukrainian-Russian section of the border.”

On Monday evening, Putin said in televised remarks that Islamist radicals had carried out the attack but that it appeared to have been orchestrated by Ukraine.

He has insisted that the attackers intended to cross into Ukraine after their Moscow rampage.

Terrorists gunned down at least 139 people at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on Friday night.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the worst in Russia for 20 years.

Four suspects were detained in Bryansk region, which borders both Ukraine and Belarus, several hours later.

The Russian-Belarusian border is usually relatively loosely policed in accordance with a union-state agreement between the two countries.

The Bloomberg News agency reported on Tuesday that four sources close to the Kremlin said the government knows there is no evidence of involvement by Ukraine.

One person told the agency that Mr Putin was at a meeting where officials agreed Ukraine was not linked to the attack but that the president is determined to use his unproven claim to rally support for the war.

The Telegraph could not immediately confirm the report.

Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB, Russia’s internal security agency, said on Tuesday that Britain, the United States, and Ukraine were all linked to the attack.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, said “of course Ukraine” when asked who he believed was responsible.

Ukraine has rejected allegations that it was involved and suggested Russia orchestrated it as a false-flag attack. The United States and France have said Islamic State organised the attack and acted alone.

His comments came as Russian authorities arrested an eighth man in connection with the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.

Alisher Kasimov, a Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, is accused of renting a flat to the attackers, Russian media reported. He said in court on Tuesday morning he did not know of their plans.

Officials said he was ordered to be held in detention until at least May 22, without detailing the exact accusations against him.

The four suspected attackers were detained on Saturday after several hours on the run.

Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19 have been remanded in custody until May 22.

All four showed signs of beatings and torture when they were arraigned in court over the weekend. Footage released on Wagner-affiliated Telegram channels showed security officers electrocuting one of the men with a field telephone wired to his genitals. Another video showed an officer cutting off Rachabalizod’s right ear and pushing it into his mouth.

Three other men, all from the same family, were arrested on Monday evening on suspicion of assisting the attackers by providing the getaway vehicle.

Brothers Dilovar and Aminchon Islomov have been charged with terrorism. Their father Isroil Islomov has not been charged but is considered a suspect, Meduza reported.

Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said on Monday that the three, who live in the city of Tver northwest of Moscow, were believed to be part of the terrorist group and assisted the attackers by providing the vehicle, a flat, and moving money for them.

Dilovar Islomov told Novaya Gazeta Europe he and his brother turned themselves in when they recognised the white Renault used by the attackers as the car he had sold to his wife’s brother a week previously. He said they were innocent of involvement in the terror attack.

The arrests came as further details emerged of the suspected attackers’ movements before Friday night.

At least two had recently travelled between Russia and Turkey.

A Turkish official told the AFP news agency that Saidakrami and Fariduni “were able to travel freely between Russia and Turkey since there was no warrant for their arrest”.