A Republican candidate for Congress in Washington state has suggested the CIA and Ukraine may be responsible for a terrorist attack last week that killed 143 people in Moscow, echoing a theory pushed, without evidence, by Kremlin propagandists.
Joe Kent, a conservative firebrand in a likely rematch with first-term Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whom he narrowly lost to in 2022, made the comments in a Tuesday appearance on “Real America” on the right-wing One America News Network.
Kent, a retired Special Operations veteran and former foreign policy adviser in the Donald Trump administration, suggested the attack, which Islamic militants claimed responsibility for, could in fact have been orchestrated by Western interests and added that it was unlikely the truth would ever be known. He said Islamic militants had grievances with Russia that would lead them to attack, but he also said it was plausible the attack was a Western plot.
“If the Ukrainians were using CIA or [British intelligence agency] MI6 money, which they have a lot of access to, and they were tasked with conducting sabotage behind Russian lines, I mean, this is too easy. You can get access to these jihadis because they’re looking to work for the highest bidder, so it does kind of make sense,” Kent said.
Kent made a similar statement on “The Nunn Report” podcast the next day.
“If you’re looking for surrogates and you’re looking for someone who can do dirty work for you, if I’m a Ukrainian intel guy, I’m going to be, ‘Hey, these Muslims that have already an ax already to grind with Putin and with Russians, they might be a good pool for us to recruit from.’ So it’s not too much of a leap to think that,” he said on the right-wing podcast.
The Kent campaign did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.
A branch of ISIS, an Islamic militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack at a Moscow concert hall in which attendees were shot and the building was set on fire. The group issued its claim quickly after the attack and provided video to support the claim.
The attack appeared to catch Russian security services by surprise and shocked Russians. President Vladimir Putin, fresh off a reelection widely seen as illegitimate, pointed the finger at Ukraine, even as he said the attack was committed by “radical Islamists.”
“This atrocity may be 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,” he said in televised remarks. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish and not a Nazi. Russia has, however, used claims that the Ukrainian government and society are rife with Nazis as a justification for its February 2022 invasion and ongoing war.
Sergey Karnaukhov, a Russian TV host, said, “Ukraine is a proxy force of American and British military and intelligence services. Does anyone have any doubt as to who did this?” Compliant Russian TV hosts and talk shows have long been seen as one way Putin shapes the public discourse in Russia.
The White House said the U.S. warned Russia earlier in March about the possibility of a terrorist attack and said there was no evidence Ukraine had any involvement.
“This was a terrorist attack that was conducted by ISIS. Mr. Putin understands that. He knows that very well,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby was even more blunt on Thursday.
“My uncle used to say that the best manure salesmen often carry their samples in their mouths. Russian officials seem to be pretty good manure salesmen,” he said.
Gluesenkamp Perez said Kent’s comments showed why he should not be elected in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.
“It’s shocking to me how willingly Joe Kent swallows and repeats the propaganda narratives pushed out by the Kremlin. Joe Kent would be Putin’s go-to guy in Congress, one of the many reasons why electing Joe Kent would be dangerous for the entire country,” she said in a statement to HuffPost.
In his appearance on the Nunn show, Kent also advocated for halting Ukraine aid, which has been stalled in the House due to GOP opposition, to force the country to the bargaining table and freeze the conflict, a prospect Ukraine says would only give Russia time to prepare for a bigger attack.
Kent also said he thought the U.S. should promise Russia that Ukraine would never be allowed into NATO, to entice Russia to stand down, and the U.S. should avoid getting dragged into helping redraw the borders between the two in any land-for-peace negotiation, if one happens.
“That is a conflict between Slavic cousins, and the Slavic cousins need to work out where those lines go,” he said.