Although the Islamic State has already claimed responsibility for last week’s massacre in Moscow, top Russian officials are nonetheless trying to pin the blame on Ukraine. But few people are taking these claims seriously, because it is obvious that the Kremlin is simply trying to distract its citizens from its own incompetence.

The attack on the Crocus City Hall concert complex, in which four armed men murdered 137 people, was the worst terrorist incident to occur in Moscow in over 20 years. Russian citizens were left shocked and furious by both the assault itself and the lackadaisical response of local security forces, which took several hours to catch the assailants.