Terrorist attacks in Russia will continue: sociologist Shulga explains why

He said this on Espreso TV.

"By itself, this narative is logical and, according to all our previous experience, must be confirmed by specific actions, that is, one terrorist attack cannot be enough, it must be a series of terrorist attacks. So far, after the attack on Crocus City Hall, there have been many seemingly prevented terrorist attacks. We remember the icons with explosives, which, of course, 'came' from Ukraine to Russia, the murdered man who was called a Ukrainian agent who was also supposed to carry out a terrorist attack, and so on," explained the doctor of sociology.

According to Shulga, this is not a full-fledged operation without new terrorist attacks, casualties among Russian civilians and a spectacular picture like the one at the Crocus City Hall shopping centre.

"Only then will it be possible to fulfil the main goal that the Kremlin is pursuing on the eve of a new mobilisation, on the eve of the fact that nothing so breakthrough happened on the eve of Putin's new cadence, so a cognitive turn in consciousness must be made - from economic issues, from financial issues, from high prices, low wages, which are now the biggest problems for Russians, they must be returned to a state of irrationality, transferred, of course, to a state of exalted irrationality: prestige, victory, we are the greatest. However, since it doesn't work out at the front, thank God, we need to use another irrational approach, a turn to irrationality: fear and rallying around the leader," he said.

At the same time, even Russian patriots, he said, have doubts about the current government. Even Russian propaganda contradicts itself and changes narratives.

“Regarding doubts - they exist, talking about questions - they already exist. And now they are using the good old method of terrorism to prevent the Russians from asking questions, to prevent doubts, to prevent time for this. This is already happening, but the question is whether it will lead to what we need and how long it will take, because we are paying very dearly for these hesitations of Russian society and we would like to avoid doing this at all," Shulga concluded.

Terrorist attack in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall 

In Krasnogorsk, Moscow region, a shooting took place at the Crocus City Hall concert venue before the start of the Picnic band's performance. Over 130 people have been reported dead as well as many wounded. The FSB says it has allegedly detained the suspects.

Starting on March 7, American diplomats warned of the threat of terrorist attacks in the Russian capital, Moscow. Subsequently, similar statements were made by representatives of several other Western countries.

Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate is convinced that the shooting at the Crocus shopping center in Moscow is a deliberate provocation by the Putin regime, and the Foreign Ministry said the world should strongly reject Russia's false accusations of Ukraine's alleged involvement. The White House also rejected Ukraine's involvement. 

On March 23, Vladimir Putin made an address on the terrorist attack. According to the Russian dictator, Ukraine was "preparing a window" to allow terrorists who had staged a terrorist attack in Moscow to escape. 

On March 25, at a meeting with security officials, Putin admitted that "radical Islamists" had carried out the attack, but blamed the shooting on "those who are fighting Russia with the hands of the Kyiv regime."

The Secretary of the Russian Security Council, the Director of the FSB, and the spokesperson for the Russian President repeated Putin's version of the "Ukrainian trace" and the involvement of Western intelligence services in the terrorist attack in Moscow. At the same time, self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko denied that the alleged perpetrators of the terrorist attack were trying to escape to Ukraine.

The Center for Countering Disinformation doubts that the Crocus attack could have been carried out by the perpetrators identified by the Russian authorities.

The US National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday, March 24, unequivocally rejected Russia's attempts to accuse Ukraine of organizing the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall shopping mall near Moscow.