European Union says it is "hard to imagine" anti-terrorist cooperation with Russia in wake of terrorist attack near Moscow
The European Union does not entirely rule out the possibility of joint anti-terrorist actions with Russia after the terrorist attack near Moscow. However, it is "hard to imagine" that at this stage there will be a basis for cooperation with a country involved in full-scale aggression.
According to Censor.NET, citing European Pravda, this was announced by the spokesperson for the EU External Action Service, Peter Stano, during a briefing.
The official was answering journalists' questions about future possible cooperation with Russia in the fight against terrorism. Such questions arose after representatives of the Islamic State shot civilians in a shopping centre near Moscow. 137 people were killed.
Stano said that the EU cut off all relations and cooperation with Russia after the Russians attacked Ukraine because they disregarded all humanitarian and diplomatic laws.
"But at the same time, we were very clear in our condemnation of what happened in Moscow. In our view, it was, without a doubt, a terrorist attack. If Russia had come up with a proposal that was credible, based on rational grounds, in line with international law, then the EU would probably not have refused," Stano said.
"We are dealing with a country, with a regime that is dragging a country, that is Russia, into an illegal war with a regime that is oppressing its local population. So it's very difficult to imagine what the basis for cooperation would be," the spokesman said.
Stano also noted that to date, not a single terrorist attack committed in Russia has been properly investigated. "This also leaves open many questions about the attitude of the Russian authorities," he added.
Terrorist attack near Moscow
On the evening of 22 March, a shooting took place at the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow region. Later, a fire broke out in the building. On the morning of 23 March, the head of the FSB reported to Putin that 11 people had been detained, including "all 4 terrorists". According to the latest reports, 115 people died in the shooting at Crocus City Hall in the Moscow region.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that the terrorists who opened fire at the Crocus City Hall concert hall intended to flee to Ukraine.
The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine considers this statement to be nonsense. The representative of the Defence Ministry's DIU, Andrii Yusov, stressed that the FSB's accusations are "lies and attempts to blame the Ukrainian regime for the attack, which is what they have been doing since the first minutes of the attack."
