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CIA Veteran: US and British Intel Agencies Likely Behind Dagestan and Sevastopol Attacks

© Sputnik / Konstantin Mihalchevskiy / Go to the mediabankMakeshift memorial to victims of a Ukrainian missile attack on Sevastopol, Republic of Crimea, Russia
Makeshift memorial to victims of a Ukrainian missile attack on Sevastopol, Republic of Crimea, Russia - Sputnik International, 1920, 24.06.2024
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It is no coincidence that the Ukrainian terror shelling of Sevastopol came the same day as a series of shootings in Dagestan — with NATO agents likely behind both, CIA veteran Larry Johnson told Sputnik.
A former CIA officer sees the hand of Western intelligence services behind a string of atrocities against Russian civilians.
On June 23, unknown gunmen opened fire at two churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala in Russia's Dagestan Republic.
The seemingly-coordinated attacks claimed the lives of 20 people, including 15 policemen, civilians and an Orthodox priest. In the course of a counter-terror operation six assailants were liquidated.
The Dagestan terror attacks coincided with the Ukrainian military strike by US-made cluster ATACMS missiles on Sevastopol, earlier in the day, which killed four and injured 153 civilians.
"The likelihood that there was a CIA and/or MI6 involvement is very high," Larry Johnson, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official, told Sputnik.
"I don't think it's just a coincidence that you had the attack in Sevastopol coincide with this series of attacks in Dagestan," he said. "At a minimum, it would have been a CIA incitement. But you can't rule out that there was actual contact training."
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US Escalated Ukraine Conflict on New Level by Facilitating Terror Strike on Sevastopol
US involvement in the missile attack on Sevastopol is undeniable given that ATACMS missiles must be programmed by US specialists, while a US RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone operated in close proximity to the Crimean peninsula that day, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal probe into the Dagestan attack on the charges of terrorism, theft and illegal possession of firearms.
The weapons found at the crime scenes have been submitted for ballistic examination. According to some reports, the terrorists used foreign-made automatic rifles, among other weapon systems.

"The West in concert with Ukraine… [has] decided to shift its focus to trying to promote terrorist attacks in Russia and to do a variety of acts, everything from the missile strikes to these kinds of attacks on religious institutions and security forces, with the goal being to create domestic unrest, to try to weaken President [Vladimir] Putin," said Johnson.

According to the former intelligence analyst, the CIA may be trying to drive a wedge between Russia's Muslim and non-Muslim communities, with the aim of weakening and undermining the Russian state.
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In the wake of the Crocus City Hall terror attack in Moscow, Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), openly admitted in an interview with the Western media that his agency was capitalizing on the tragedy by stoking ethnic tensions in Russia.
The Russian Investigative Committee earlier traced the terror attack carried out on March 22 by jihadi operatives affiliated with ISIS-K* to Ukrainian "curators."
The coordination of Sunday's terrorist attacks in Dagestan was greater than during the attack on Crocus City Hall, because the shootings took place at several locations, head of the Dagestan Republic Sergei Melikov told reporters on June 24.
"The West is obsessed with destroying Russia," said Johnson. "So whatever they can do to weaken Putin, they see it as part of the overall, broader plan to weaken Russia."
According to the CIA veteran, the West's efforts to divide Russia and undermine its leadership will have an opposite effect — it will only make the country more united and more willing to pursue those who attacked it.
*terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.
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