Whenever an apparent terrorist attack occurs, one’s first thought is ‘who was responsible?’
In a reasonable country, one starts with the facts. But Russia is not a reasonable country. Indeed, since the terrible massacre which claimed 137 lives, the Kremlin’s first instinct was to pump out every conceivable conspiracy theory under the sun.
The first was that Kyiv was responsible, later extrapolated to include the Western intelligence services, such as MI6. This is despite the fact that, in private, it would appear that very few of the Russian elite believe that Ukraine or the West bear any responsibility. There are even reports that Putin himself is unconvinced by what his propaganda spews.
