TALLINN: Russian authorities on Friday again tried to link the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall to Ukraine, saying one of the detained suspects had photos on his phone depicting troops in camouflage uniforms with the Ukrainian flag.
Ever since the March 22 mass shooting and fire at the Crocus City Hall concert venue that killed 145 people, Russian officials have sought to blame Ukraine for the massacre, even though Kyiv has denied any involvement and an affiliate of Daesh claimed responsibility.
Authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, have provided no evidence for the link as they sought to shift the narrative from the failure by security services to prevent the attack.
Russia’s top law enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, said in a statement Friday that authorities found photos in one of the suspects’ phones depicting “people in camouflage uniforms with the Ukrainian flag against the background of destroyed houses.”
The phone also bore an image of a Ukrainian postage stamp with an obscene message, the committee said. It did not release the image, but it could be referring to a popular postage stamp issued by Kyiv that commemorates a moment early in the 2022 invasion when Ukrainian soldiers reportedly issued a defiant expletive at a Russian warship.
The committee also said one of the suspects sent images of access roads and entrances to the concert hall to their handler on Feb. 24 — the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The findings “may indicate between the terrorist attack and the carrying out of the special military operation,” the committee said, using the Kremlin’s euphemism for the war. The agency’s claims couldn’t be independently verified.
On the day after the attack, authorities said they captured four men in the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine and alleged they had carried out the shootings. Putin and other officials claim the four were headed for Ukraine.
The four, identified as Tajik nationals, appeared in a Moscow court on terrorism charges and showed signs of severe beatings. A number of others have been arrested as accomplices in several Russian regions, and detentions of people possibly linked to the attackers were reported in Tajikistan, as well.
The attack came two weeks after the US Embassy in Russia issued a warning about a possible attack in Moscow on a large gathering. The US State Department said it passed information about the threat to Russian officials.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week declined comment on a report in The Washington Post that US officials had specifically identified Crocus City Hall as a potential target, saying that was a matter for the security services.
The attack marked a major security failure under Putin, who came to power 24 years ago by taking a tough line against those he labeled terrorists from the Russian region of Chechnya who were waging an insurgency.
The security lapse has led many to ask how gunmen could kill so many people at a mass gathering, with critics accusing Russia’s security forces of focusing on stifling political dissent rather than dealing with real public threats.
Russian officials again try to link the Moscow concert attack with Ukraine despite Kyiv’s denials
https://arab.news/bpwns
Russian officials again try to link the Moscow concert attack with Ukraine despite Kyiv’s denials
- Authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, have provided no evidence for the link as they sought to shift the narrative
- Authorities said they captured four men in the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine and alleged they had carried out the shootings
India joins US-led initiative to build secure technology supply chains powering AI
- Pax Silica was launched in December by the US Department of State
- Joining initiative gives Delhi opportunity to help shape global AI order, says expert
NEW DELHI: India joined a US-led initiative on Friday which will strengthen technology and supply chain cooperation and further boost the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure, making New Delhi the latest member alongside countries including Japan, South Korea, Qatar and the UAE.
The US Department of State launched the Pax Silica Declaration in December, with the aim of securing the global supply chain for silicon-based technologies that are crucial for AI infrastructure and deepen partnerships on artificial intelligence.
India, represented by S. Krishnan, secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information, signed the declaration on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
“The signing at the India AI Impact Summit underscored a clear message: The future of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies will not be left to chance. It will be built deliberately, by nations committed to freedom, partnership, and long-term resilience,” the ministry said in a statement.
India’s entry into Pax Silica was both “strategic and essential,” said US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor.
“Pax Silica is the coalition that will define the 21st century economic and technological order,” he said during the signing ceremony.
“It is designed to secure the entire silicon stack, from the mines where we extract critical minerals, to the fabs where we manufacture chips, to the data centers where we deploy frontier AI.”
In 2024, the Indian government launched the IndiaAI Mission, an initiative worth in excess of $1 billion to develop the AI ecosystem in the country.
This week saw it host the five-day India AI Impact Summit 2026, which saw participation from more than 60 countries and the attendance of 20 heads of state, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince.
Joining Pax Silica gives India a “seat at the table in shaping the global AI order, better access to semiconductors and critical minerals it currently lacks, legitimacy as a trusted technology partner, and deeper economic-security cooperation with the US,” Subimal Bhattacharjee, a policy advisor in cyber security and high-end technology, told Arab News.
The writer of “The Digital Decades,” a book chronicling India’s digital transformation since the early 1990s, said that the South Asian nation brings several assets to the alliance, including a massive pool of AI and software talent, a large domestic data market and a growing manufacturing capacity.
As such, by hosting the first global AI summit in the Global South this week, Delhi is underlining “its ambition to be not just a consumer but a rule setter” for AI governance, he added.
With Pax Silica aiming to become “a technology alliance for the AI age” that encompasses critical minerals and energy to chips, compute, AI infrastructure and digital networks, it serves as a potential platform to establish “coordinated action among trusted partners,” said Pranay Kotasthane, deputy director at the Takshashila Institution.
Indians already make up around 20 percent of the world’s chip design talent, with around 30,000 engineers designing about 3,000 chips annually, he added.
“Indian firms are positioned to be the global deployment engine for enterprise AI,” Kotasthane told Arab News.
“Pax Silica membership could help them get preferential access to the trusted ecosystem of compute, models and markets. India was always going to capture value from this stack. Membership ensures it also captures influence.”
