How much one can trust the Russian media reports on the Moscow incident?

The Independent (UK): Russian police have published a video interrogation of a taxi driver who drove into pedestrians in central Moscow on Saturday. In it, he claims he got his pedals mixed up and lost control after 20 straight hours of driving.  The testimony fell in line with official accounts, which described the incident as a “tragic accident” soon after the news broke. But some have pointed at inconsistencies in both accounts, with speculation that authorities may be covering up a more serious incident.

The driver is reported to be a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. In the recording, he says he tried to brake in order to let a pedestrian cross the road, but instead hit the wrong pedal and accelerated into the crowd. He then ran from the scene “for fear of being killed”. Contrary to what the police said at the time, the driver insisted he was not drunk.

However, a video of the incident released yesterday does not seem to bear out the driver’s account of what happened. Most obviously, his car appears to accelerate after the driver passes the pedestrian at the zebra crossing, before swerving to the right, with shocking consequences. 

Eight people were injured in the collision, one seriously. Russia’s state media has been slow in reporting the incident, and some ignored it altogether. In the past, media outlets that are loyal to the government have maintained news blackouts for terror-related incidents. Kremlin officials have praised such behaviour, unlikely to be totally voluntary, saying it avoids copycat crimes.

“We don’t know what happened and just because this guy is from Kyrgyzstan does not mean he is a terrorist,” says the security expert Mark Galeotti. “But we also know that we can’t trust the official Russian line.”

According to Mr Galeotti, jihadism from Central Asia is something of a blind spot for Russia’s security agencies.

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