Britain and the USA (the two countries that in early March had issued a travel advisory for Moscow) as well as Kiev were today pointed out as the orchestrators of last Friday’s deadly terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, the head of the Russian intelligence services ( FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

At the same time, the state-run RIA news agency said that Western intelligence services and Ukraine “needed” the attack to sow panic in Russia.

According to RIA, when Bortnikov was asked if the US, Britain and Ukraine were behind the attack (for which Islamic State claimed responsibility), he replied: “We think so.”

Meanwhile, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a close ally of Putin, Nikolai Patrushev, said today that Ukraine was “of course” behind the attack, which killed at least 139 people.

The SHOT news website released a video in which a reporter asks Patrushev “ISIS or Ukraine?”.

“Ukraine, of course,” replies Patrushev.

But the Kremlin refuses to say officially whether it believes there is a link between the Ukrainian leadership and Friday’s attack, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.

Asked at a press briefing if there was a direct link between Ukraine and the attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “I have nothing to add to what has already been said on the matter.”

Putin has said the attack was carried out by radical Islamists, but also said the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine after attacking the Crocus City Hall concert hall.

US officials have said they have information that the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group, the Islamic State of Khorasan (ISIS-K), was responsible for the attack, but Russian authorities have not publicly acknowledged the group’s role.