Two influential allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday they believed Ukraine was involved in the attack on a concert hall outside Moscow that killed at least 139 people and injured 180 others, Reuters reports.
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Ukraine has repeatedly denied any involvement, and the "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for the attack.
The news publication SHOT published a video of a conversation in which a reporter asks Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, if it is "Islamic State or Ukraine?"
"Ukraine of course", answered Patrushev.
When asked about the remark later, he said he had "a lot" indications of Ukraine's participation.
Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), said the gunmen wanted to reach Ukraine, where some people were willing to take the attackers across the border.
"In general, we think they are involved in this,", Bortnikov told reporters about possible Ukrainian involvement, Russian news agencies reported. The FSB has information pointing to Ukraine's involvement in the attack, he said.
Bortnikov offered no evidence for his claims, but cited the gunmen's alleged attempt to flee to Ukraine. He did, however, specify that the FSB has not yet identified who exactly ordered the attack.
Patrushev and Bortnikov's remarks give insight into the thinking of the hawks at the top of the Kremlin elite.
Putin said on Saturday in an address to the nation that all those responsible for the concert attack would be punished.
On Monday, he said radical Islamists had carried out the attack, but noted that the attackers were trying to flee to Ukraine and questioned why Islamists would want to attack Russia at this particular time without being prompted by others .
"We know that the crime was committed by the hand of radical Islamists with an ideology against which the Muslim world has fought for centuries," Putin said. "We want to know who ordered it."