Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko appears to have contradicted Russia’s assertion that Ukraine was involved in the deadly Moscow massacre.

Lukashenko revealed that the four terrorists attempted to flee to Belarus, not Ukraine, potentially undermining Vladimir Putin’s attempt to blame Volodymyr Zelensky for the attack.

Despite being one of Putin’s closest allies, Lukashenko’s public statement contradicts Putin’s narrative.

He said: ‘There was no way they could enter Belarus. They saw that. That’s why they turned away and went to the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border.’

While terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre several times, Russia has not fully acknowledged this and officials have chosen to blame Ukraine and the West for the attack.

On Monday, Putin asserted for the first time that “radical Islamists” were responsible for the recent attack, yet he attempted to link it to Kyiv. Without presenting any evidence, Putin associated the assault at Crocus City Hall with a string of incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups, alleging that these actions were aimed at “sowing panic in our society.”

And today, Russia’s internal security chief blamed Britain and the US for helping ISIS terrorists carry out the attack. 

Alexander Bortnikov, the FSB chief, asserted that the West and Ukraine were responsible for the attack, even though he also stated that Russian investigators had not yet determined who ordered the attack.

He told Russian news agencies: ‘The USA, Britain and Ukraine are behind the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall.’

‘We believe the action was prepared both by the radical Islamists themselves and, of course, facilitated by Western special services, and Ukraine’s special services themselves have a direct connection to this.’

But in the same breath, he said: ‘The one who ordered it has not been identified yet. We understand and see those who organised this process, who recruited and set specific tasks.’