A man bows next to a makeshift memorial to the victims of a shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert venue.LONDON — Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on March 26 that the gunmen who attacked Moscow's Crocus City Hall music venue on March 22 tried initially to flee to Belarus, not Ukraine as Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin have insisted.
Ukraine has vehemently denied involvement but two of Putin's most powerful allies, Security Council chairman Nikolai Patrushev and FSB state security service head Alexander Bortnikov, on March 26 both directly blamed Kyiv for the attack, albeit without producing any evidence.