British special forces were responsible for the devastating synagogue terror attacks in Dagestan this week, a Putin mouthpiece has absurdly claimed on Russian TV.
Television presenter Vladimir Solovyov made the extraordinary claims during a rant on Pryamoi Efir in light of Sunday's attack that left 20 dead, including a priest whose throat was reportedly slit by his attackers in a gross act of barbarity.
'Any manifestation of this kind of terrorist act inside our country - well, it is obvious who has always been behind this, the British,' Solovyov told viewers.
'They [the British] have been very active, that is, they are always pouring petrol... We can see the hand of this behind-the-scenes mastermind who likes to arrange all this.'
Solovyov, a regular fixture on Russian state television, claimed that 'as a rule' British special services were 'standing over various terrorist groups', without providing evidence.
While no group has yet taken responsibility for the attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the terror attack - the second such atrocity in just over three months - on the perceived rising threat of militant Islam.
Solovyov (pictured speaking, main) blamed Britain for trying to destabilise Russia
Russian officials have used the atrocity to focus blame on Ukraine's allies
Solovyov pictured with Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2013
Two synagogues and an Orthodox church across southern Russia were attacked by gunmen
An incensed Solovyov questioned, during his absurd rant, who would have the incentive to carry out such an attack on Russian soil.
'In whose interests is this taking place, exactly now…so that the ears of Ukraine would not be visible?' he asked rhetorically.
'In fact, it is not Ukraine's ears, but the ears of those who are standing over various terrorist groups. As a rule, this is British special services.
'We can see the hand of this behind-the-scenes mastermind who likes to arrange all this.'
Since Sunday's attack, two sons of Magomed Omarov, 64, a top Putin official in Dagestan, have been implicated in the attack.
Both Osman, 30, and Adil, 37, with known links to Islamic extremist organisations, were killed in the shootout in cities Makhachkala and Derbent.
Omarov was subsequently sacked after police raided his home - but Russian officials continue to attribute blame to the West.
State Duma Deputy Abdulkhakim Gadzhiyev said immediately after the attacks, on Sunday, that Ukraine and its backers within NATO were 'no doubt behind the attacks', trying to 'destabilise our country from within'.
Gadzhiyev explained this with reference to Russia's recent 'success' on the battlefield, with Moscow's forces making inroads from a reopened offensive in northern Ukraine in March.
Smoke billows from the scene of an attack in Dagestan on Sunday
The synagogue in Derbent, damaged after the attack on Snday
A burned-out synagogue in the aftermath of the attack in Derbent
In response, Ukraine's allies offered more support in the way of munitions and took unprecedented steps to allow Ukraine to use donated weapons on targets within Russia - judged a significant escalation in the conflict.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Russian investigative bodies were working to establish whether the attacks in Dagestan were linked to a Ukrainian attacking using US-supplied ATACMS missiles in Crimea on Sunday.
'You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington, the press secretaries, why their governments are killing Russian children,' Peskov told reporters.
At least two children were killed in the attack on Sevastopol on Sunday, according to Russian officials. People were shown running from a beach near Sevastopol and some of the injured being carried off on sun loungers.
Kyiv did not comment on the attack but denies targeting civilians.
Russia said the United States had supplied the weapons, while the U.S. military had aimed them and provided data.
Pentagon spokesperson Major Charlie Dietz said that 'Ukraine makes its own targeting decisions and conducts its own military operations.'
A U.S. official later said that Ukraine was not targeting civilians. It seemed that the Russians were able to intercept an ATACMS missile that was targeting a missile launcher, and the ATACMS exploded with shrapnel raining down on the beach, the American official added.
There is no evidence Ukraine's allies in the West were responsible for the shootings in Dagestan, either.
The bloody attack saw 20 people killed, including at least 15 police officers, according to Russia's Investigative Committee.
The attackers fired at the religious sites, as well as a police station, across the region of Dagestan, a largely Muslim part of Russia that borders Georgia and Azerbaijan.
A synagogue in regional capital Makhachkala was set alight and a priest, named locally as Father Nikolai Kotelnikov, reportedly had his throat slit by the gunmen.
Horrifying scenes showed a synagogue in the regional capital billowing smoke as it became engulfed in tall flames.
A burned out car in the aftermath of the attacks on Sunday in Dagestan
Dagestan region governor Sergei Melikov visits an Orthodox church in Derbent, also attacked
Father Nikolay Kotelnikov, who was killed during the terrorist attack in the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Derbent
Another synagogue was set alight in Derbent, some 80 miles to the south.
Five attackers were reported to have been 'liquidated' as of late Sunday, while many fled.
Dagestan has undergone a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the past year, most notably when a mob stormed the airport in Makhachkala to search for Jewish passengers from Israel.
The attacks on the religious sites across Dagestan come just months after a deadly terrorist attack in Moscow took the lives of nearly 145 people.
Islamic State Khorasan Provice (ISIS-K), a particularly brutal sect of ISIS, slaughtered innocent concertgoers who went to see the Russian band Picnic at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in March this year.
