Did a Chechen Terrorist Assist in Moscow Terror Attack?

Russian investigators say they have proof that the Crocus Hall gunmen have terror connections to Ukrainian militants, if not to the Kiev regime itself.  Although the investigators have not revealed specific details yet, we must credit Pepe Escobar for joining the dots and calling out one Abdul Hakim al-Shishani (also sometimes identified as Rustam Azhiev) as a potential prime suspect with regard to potential recruitment of the Tajik shooters in the Moscow attack, likely on behalf of the Ukrainian SBU terror organization.

In Syria, you’ll recall that after 2016, Chechen terrorist Abdul Hakim al-Shishani (above, left) briefly — and ineptly — filled the void left by “Tarkhan the Rodent” Omar al-Shishani, when Omar al-Shishani was exterminated there in 2016. Omar al-Shishani operated with other Pankisi Gorge terrorists in earlier years, including Dokka Abu Umar https://dbpedia.org/page/Dokka_Umarov . Umarov was eliminated in 2013.

Tarkhan the Rodent (Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili) was trained in Georgia by the United States under Sakashvili, as part of the Georgian Brigade that fought against Russia in the Caucasus in 2008, and with the Ukraine military, to this day.

[A reasonable history by name appears here, even if scrubbed of US complicity with regard to its assistance in the emergence of the overall Chechen terror threat to Russia: https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-caucasus-emirate-from-anti-colonialist-roots-to-salafi-jihad/ ]

As for Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, a brief analysis appears here: https://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/abdul-hakim-al-shishani and here: https://www.france24.com/en/video/20230109-notorious-chechen-commander-leaves-syria-and-joins-ukrainian-army-to-fight-russia

From 2018 on, I often wondered what had happened to Abdul Hakim al-Shishani after his narrow escape from Syria. He narrowly escaped after an Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) ‘night of the long knives’ squabble, that developed just after “Tarkhan the Rodent” (Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili) was thankfully eliminated as a threat in 2016. Abdul Hakim’s stint as a replacement for ‘the rodent’ was brief, with friction likely due to Abdul Hakim al-Shishani’s refusal to fully align with ISIS, and his commitment to the independent Caucasus Emirate.

Beside mishandling terror operations in conjunction with HTS in Syria, and losing confidence of (all but a few) fellow Pankisi Gorge terrorists, word is that Abdul Hakim was not a leader of the same caliber as Tarkhan the Rodent. After that, Abdul Hakim al-Shishani departed for the Ukraine, to assist the Kiev regime. Such provides an interesting analogy and profile for today, because if Abdul Hakim al-Shishani did recruit the Tajiks on behalf of the SBU for the Crocus Hall attack, then we may speculate that’s why the Tajik shooters operated and behaved as they did.

Regardless of the above historic detail, it’s reasonable to conclude that the former United States is once again hiding behind the skirts of takfiri Salafi terrorists (of whatever caliber or alignment) to deny their own knowledge and even potential implicit involvement in the attacks… which also assumes that the SBU is involved, as appears likely.

That the western media constantly whines that ISIS-K is the one and only organization involved in the Crocus Hall attack [1] – just as the CIA claimed that Lee Oswald was a ‘lone nut’ and unknown to them within hours after the JFK assassination – indicates that the US may be complicit once again with regard to fomenting terror attacks versus Russia.

Bottom line, is that Abdul Hakim al-Shishani must be located, and must be forcefully confronted and questioned, as a prime suspect with regard to organization of the Crocus City Hall tragedy.

[1] The US publicly announced that it knew ISIS-K was behind the Crocus City Hall attack, and that the Ukraine was not involved, less than two hours after the attack occurred!  Why? 

Steve Brown