Putin is angry. Although he hasn’t come forward with any evidence, he continues to point fingers at the West for the mall attack in Moscow.
The Russians are also furious. On social networks Telegram and VKontakte, there are hundreds of conspiracy theories, thousands of racist attacks, posts calling for the departure of Asian immigrants, but also incitements to seek revenge against Ukraine.
The pain, helplessness, and lack of reaction from the authorities in Russia have been turned by Putin and his cronies into a wave of hatred directed towards Kiev and Western allies.
The general message emerging from the discourse promoted on official communication channels, television, and social networks is that everyone is an enemy of Russia, everyone is an adversary.
"...the four terrorists have been caught and are imprisoned. They were fleeing and trying to cross the border into Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, they were expected and were supposed to be helped to enter the country," stated Vladimir Putin in a televised intervention on March 23.
Foreigners, responsible for Putin's failures
The Russian President, in his statements, made no reference to the alert and information sent by US authorities to Moscow about the imminent terrorist attack by "extremists," as early as March 7.
But he has developed and supports a conspiracy theory in which he claims that the attackers were recruited, paid, and trained by Western intelligence agencies to destabilize Russia.
Those who lived during the communist dictatorship are familiar with this type of discourse where responsibility for all internal problems and failures is transferred to "foreign enemies" who "want to destabilize us."
The idea is present in many public interventions by Nicolae Ceaușescu during his time in power, and this type of narrative, so often used by leaders of dictatorial political systems, also serves as a lifeline for Putin, with the help of which he hopes to reach the shore after the disaster caused by the terrorist attack in Moscow.
There is another conspiracy theory, this time promoted by a series of commentators, journalists, and politicians from Western countries, who believe and try to demonstrate that the attack in Moscow was planned and carried out by the FSB, Russia's intelligence agency, in order to create an internal crisis that would allow Putin to announce a new mobilization to strengthen the armed forces.
For this theory as well, there is no credible information, statements, or evidence.
But that doesn't mean Putin won't politically exploit this crisis precisely for the above purpose. He will try to maintain the "population's desire for revenge" and thus preempt protests related to a new mobilization action by Russian citizens.
Russia, a spiral of darkness
There are voices claiming that the current attack bears a resemblance to the "bombing of residential buildings" in 1999, when Putin was Prime Minister.
In September 1999, a series of explosions in Moscow and other cities, where apartment buildings were blown up, resulted in the death of over 300 people and injured at least 1,000.
The attacks back then were used as a pretext for initiating the second Chechen war, as well as transforming Putin from a low-profile public figure into a leader destined to become the President of Russia.
Even in the case of those attacks, despite extensive coverage and press investigations, and the Kremlin regime killing journalists, as in the tragic case of Anna Politovskaya, there were no clear evidence that the FSB orchestrated the attacks.
Russia is a spiral of darkness where the truth is the biggest enemy of the Kremlin regime.
"We believe that the United States, Great Britain, and Ukraine are behind the terrorist attack... We are now talking about the specific information we have. It's general information, but those states have a long history of this kind," stated Alexander Bortnikov, FSB Director, as quoted by the TASS agency.
Rarely does one come across a more contradictory statement from a senior security official in a state.
In reality, Bortnikov announces that he has "specific" information, but it is "general." Such a message can be translated more simply as: I have no evidence, but if Putin said it, I must support him, and the USA, Great Britain, and Ukraine are our enemies.
"What can these states do to demonstrate their capacity? …Carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism behind the frontline. This is the goal pursued by both the Ukrainian intelligence chiefs and the British intelligence services. The American intelligence services have also repeatedly mentioned this...", Bortnikov further declared, according to the cited source.
FSB, humiliated
So, the FSB's evidence is a reasoning based on the "objectives" pursued by Ukrainians and the British and confirmed by the USA, and not on facts, on what actually happened in Moscow.
With such a boss, it's no wonder that the FSB failed to thwart the terrorist attack despite all the alerts received from Western services.
But Putin's, Bortnikov's, and Patrushev's, the Security Council chief, major problem is that Western agencies have managed to penetrate the Kremlin's intelligence services, finding out before them about, for example, terrorist threats.
Not only do they reject Western help in a sensitive issue, but Putin and his allies also fail to do their job at home.
In fact, the tragedy in Moscow represents one of the greatest humiliations for Russia's secret services, exposing their inability to gather information and react in a crisis.
No one negotiates with Putin on the terms proposed by the Russian leader
Vladimir Putin's frustration stems from the revelation confirming that he is surrounded by "traitors," and all his movements are monitored and known by Ukrainians and allied forces.
In his latest intervention, Putin shows irritation at the fact that the US continues to help Ukraine, that "money is being sent," and that a mobilization law will be adopted in Kiev to strengthen the armed forces of this country.
His accusations should be understood as a turning point where Putin becomes aware that, in the long term, the war will not go in his favor, and the US and NATO have sufficient resources to support Ukraine until the end, as they have declared numerous times.