Vladimir Putin blames an Islamist attack on Ukraine and America

Few Russian leaders apart from Stalin have been as obsessed with their own security, while failing so spectacularly to provide it for their people, as Vladimir Putin. From the bombings of apartment blocks in various cities in 1999, to the terrorist attack on March 22nd at Crocus City Hall, a concert venue in Moscow, his main concern has always been his own grip on power. Predictably, Russia’s president has tried to turn the latest security failure into a justification for his dictatorial rule and for his war against Ukraine, which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

As The Economist went to press, the death toll had reached 139 people. The terrorists appear to belong to Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), a branch of Islamic State based mainly in Afghanistan but with followers across Central Asia. American officials had alerted Russian counterparts that such an attack was coming. But for Mr Putin, accepting that his American arch-enemy might act out of concern for Russians (or a desire to co-operate against Islamist terrorism) would undermine his paranoid and conspiratorial worldview. So he directed his ire precisely against those who had tried to warn him.