President Macron said France concluded that IS was the culprit in attacking the theater in Russia and that this terrorist group had targeted France a number of times.
France received intelligence that "an entity belonging to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) planned and carried out the attack," French President Emmanuel Macron said on March 25, referring to the incident. terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall theater on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on the evening of March 3.
"This same group has tried to carry out several attacks on our territory," he added, but did not mention when.
A day earlier, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced that he had raised the terrorism alert to the highest level, to deal with "the threat weighing heavily on the country".
IS has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in France, including the massacre at the Bataclan theater in Paris in 2015, killing 130 people.
Mr. Macron at a press conference in Paris, France on February 26. Image: Reuters
Mr. Macron said France had proposed to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation with Russian security agencies and that the two sides would contact at "ministerial and technical levels." The French President will not have a direct dialogue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The two leaders have not spoken since a series of phone calls in 2022, when Mr. Macron sought to persuade Mr. Putin not to conduct a campaign in Ukraine.
“We will see in the coming days or weeks how the situation will change and whether it will be enough” to conduct a personal dialogue, Mr. Macron said.
President Macron also warned Russia not to "take advantage" of the terrorist incident in any form. “If Russia uses it as an excuse against Ukraine, it will cause suspicion and be counterproductive,” he said.
ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of IS, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crocus City Hall theater that killed at least 137 people, and posted photos and videos showing four members of the group shooting at civilians. IS said the terrorist attack was part of its fight against "those who oppress Islam".
However, Russia has not commented on IS's role in the terrorist incident. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 23 that the four suspects tried to flee to the Ukrainian border after committing the crime, adding that some people on the Ukrainian side had prepared an escape route for the gunmen, but did not provide evidence. proof.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 24 rejected President Putin's accusations, saying that Russia was trying to blame Ukraine. Mykhailo Podolyak, Mr. Zelensky's advisor, said that Mr. Putin's information was unreasonable, because the Russia-Ukraine border area was dense with mines and Russian security personnel and soldiers, so the group of suspects could not cross. .
US Vice President Kamala Harris also confirmed on March 24 that Ukraine was not involved in the attack and that ISIS-K was the culprit.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that the US is using IS as a cover for Ukraine, noting that Washington once supported "mujahideen" fighters against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. back in the 1980s.
Pham Giang (Follow AFP, Reuters)
