No trace so far of Kiev's involvement in Moscow terrorist attack: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there are no indications so far of Ukraine's involvement in last week's shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, located outside Moscow, which killed at least 139 people and left over 180 injured.

The crime was committed by radical militants, Putin said on Monday, and "whose ideology has been opposed by the Islamic world itself for centuries."

"However, we also observe the United States, through various channels, attempting to persuade its allies and other nations that, according to their intelligence, there is supposedly no connection between Kiev and the Moscow terrorist attack," the Russian president added.

Emphasising that Moscow is aware of "whose hands committed this atrocity," Putin expressed Russia's interest in identifying "who the customer is."

"More specific, professional questions have to be answered," the Russian president said, adding that the "terrible crime" in Moscow is an "act of intimidation."

"The question that arises is who benefits from this? This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014, by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime," he said.

"And the Nazis, as is well known, never hesitated to use the most dirty and inhumane means to achieve their goals."

"Moreover, today, when their advertised counter-offensive has completely failed, this is recognised by everyone and is not disputed. The Russian Armed Forces hold the initiative along the entire line of combat contact, and all the measures taken by the enemy to stabilise the front do not bring success.

"Hence the attempts to enter and gain a foothold in our border territories. Shelling, including using multiple launch rocket systems, of peaceful neighbourhoods, civilian objects, including energy infrastructure, in an attempt to launch missile attacks on the Crimean Bridge or the peninsula itself," he added.

"Bloody acts of intimidation such as the terrorist attack committed in Moscow quite logically fit into this series. The goal, as I already said, is to sow panic in our society and at the same time show our own population that all is not lost for the Kiev regime," he said.

"You just need to follow the orders of your Western curators, fight to the last Ukrainian, obey the command from Washington and adopt a new law on mobilisation, create something like the Hitler Youth in its new edition, of course," he added.

Putin remarked that those supporting the Kiev regime seek to distance themselves from terrorism and avoid being seen as sponsors of such acts, yet numerous questions remain unanswered.