On the evening of March 22, a shooting attack took place at the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow. Initially, they tried to link the attack to the "Ukrainian trace". However, even after the ISIS group claimed responsibility for the attack, the Kremlin leadership continues to look for Ukraine's fault.

Political strategist Mykhailo Sheitelman told Apostrophe TV about how Russia has lost the opportunity to receive support and sympathy from the world, as well as the permanence of such terrorist attacks.

He emphasized that Russia had a "unique chance" to become a victim of Islamic terror that everyone in the world will "feel sorry for". He pointed out the following:

"Russia had a unique chance to become a victim of Islamic terror, and people in the world usually feel sorry for the victims, the world is ready to stand in solidarity with them. And from the very beginning, the first reaction of even Western countries was that some expressed condolences to the people of Russia, and some, such as Israel, said they were praying for the Russian authorities."

However, as soon as the Russian dictator and the Kremlin leadership started "looking for the Ukrainian trace," they lost the chance for possible sympathy:

"But as soon as Russia says it's not Islamic terror, it's Ukraine, and as everyone realizes that Russia is lying, it loses the wave of sympathy that it could use."

Mikhail Sheitelman believes that Putin simply needs to point out that it was Ukraine that carried out the attack to divert attention from the fact that he is communicating with terrorists:

"Russia is winning on the domestic front. Putin needs to show that he is in control of the situation. It turns out that he brought terror to Russia by communicating with terrorists - with Iran, North Korea, so now he needs to 'prove' that it's not them (Islamists), but 'damned Ukrainians'."

According to the expert, this idea can be "sold" to Russians, and in a few weeks most of the Russian population will link Ukraine to the terrorist attack: "This idea can be sold, and in a few weeks the majority of the Russian population will be absolutely sure that this terrorist attack was carried out by Ukrainians."

He also points out the possible consequences from the Kremlin. Sheitelman recalls Bortnikov's statement about possible responses to the terrorist attack by Russia, noting that the enemy is already using and doing everything possible at the front, except for nuclear weapons, so such statements will not have any practical result:

"As for the consequences of the words of, for example, Bortnikov (Russian FSB Chief Alexander Bortnikov said that Russia would respond to the terrorist attack - Apostrophe), of course, this has no practical consequences, because this is a war, and everything that the Russians could do in it, except for the use of nuclear weapons, they have already done. That is, they cannot escalate the situation on the frontline, because they already have all the tools involved."

Finally, the political technologist emphasizes that due to the fact that Russia, albeit not legally, has already been included in the list of terrorist countries, we should expect such terrorist attacks to continue:

"Now Russia, albeit not legally, is on the list of terrorist countries, and when you are on the list of terrorist countries, you have constant terrorist attacks. Therefore, in a country like Russia, terrorist attacks are inevitable on a permanent basis."

Earlier, "Apostrophe" wrote that Oleksandr Lukashenko stated that the attackers of "Crocus City Hall" first fled towards Belarus, not Ukraine.