Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko undermined his key ally Vladimir Putin when he said that the men who allegedly opened fire on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow last week, killing at least 139 people, initially attempted to flee to Belarus, not Ukraine—contradicting the Kremlin line.
Going against Moscow’s claims, Lukashenko said on Tuesday that suspected assailants from the March 22 concert hall attack originally tried to cross into Belarus—which borders Ukraine and Russia—after they fled the scene. Newsweek emailed the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries for comment on Wednesday.
The Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the attack—the deadliest in Moscow for more than a decade—but Russian officials have said Ukraine was behind the mass shooting, without offering concrete evidence.
Kyiv has denied involvement.
“We placed our units on high alert to prepare for a combat situation,” Lukashenko told a press conference on Tuesday, according to the state-run news agency Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA.
“As a result, they were unable to enter Belarus by any means. Recognizing this, they diverted their course and headed toward the Ukrainian-Russian border.”
