Close allies of Vladimir Putin reportedly refuse to believe his claim that Ukraine was involved in the terrorist attack in Moscow last week that left at least 137 people dead.

Kremlin officials were shocked by the failure of the security services to prevent the massacre on Friday, March 22, when four men opened fire at concert-goers at Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, Bloomberg reported, citing four people with close ties to the Kremlin.

But barely anyone within Russia’s political or business elite believes Kyiv was behind the attack, they said, despite Putin repeatedly claiming that the men were attempting to flee across the border into Ukraine when they were apprehended.

According to one source, who was unnamed, Putin was present at discussions where officials agreed there is no connection to Kyiv.

On Monday, March 25, Putin acknowledged that radical Islamists carried out the worst terrorist attack in Russia in two decades, but he repeated his unproven claim that Ukraine was also involved.

Speaking at a televised video conference with senior officials, Putin suggested the attack was “just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 by the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime”.

“Of course, it is necessary to answer the question: why after committing the crime the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine? Who was waiting for them there?” he added.

Some of Putin’s inner circle have echoed his accusations, prompting speculation that the Russian president may attempt to harness public anger over the tragedy to intensify the war effort.

“Of course, Ukraine,” Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s security council, said in response to a question about whether Islamic State or Ukraine was responsible.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the state Duma, said: “The terrorists and those behind them – the bloody regime of Ukraine, Washington, Brussels – hope that through such terrorist attacks they will be able to split our society.”

Meanwhile, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s FSB intelligence service, blamed an alliance between Ukraine and Western spy agencies. 

“We believe the action was prepared both by the radical Islamists themselves and, of course, facilitated by Western special services, and Ukraine’s special services themselves have a direct connection to this,” he said.

Ukraine has flatly denied any involvement, while the militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility – a claim backed up by US and French intelligence.