I thought Putin was pretty clear on who he thought committed the terrorist act.
“We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said. (FR 3/25/24) But then he asked, “who benefited.”
I think it took him a couple of days to acknowledge the perpetrators were Islamists, but I could be mistaken. Regardless, the article argues that Putin’s opposition to radical Islam is luke warm. In this regard, he’s similar to George “Religion of Peace” Bush.