"The investigation is ongoing, but it is already safe to say that the military intelligence of Ukraine is directly involved in this attack," Bortnikov said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS member states in Bishkek.
Kiev's special services are actively recruiting young people to become terrorists through propaganda about Ukrainian nationalist formations on social media, Bortnikov added.
One of the goals of the masterminds of the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall was to damage relations between the CIS countries using religious and national factors, he underlined.
"We are confident that one of the goals of the masterminds of this terrorist attack is to damage the relations of the CIS countries using religious and national factors. Our geopolitical opponents expect to destroy the unique interethnic and interfaith balance that has developed over a long period of coexistence between our peoples," Bortnikov said.
Moreover, actions of the terrorists who attacked the Crocus City Hall near Moscow were coordinated via the Internet by members of the Daesh (also known as ISIS)* Khorasan Province (ISIS-K)* who were in the Afghan-Pakistani zone, he said.
"During the investigation, including with the direct assistance of our colleagues from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, it was established that the preparation, financing, attack and withdrawal of terrorists were coordinated via the Internet by members of the ISIS-K group, who were in the Afghan-Pakistani zone," Bortnikov said.
The situation in the CIS region and the world as a whole remains tense because the US and the UK, as well as their NATO allies, use the entire arsenal of hybrid war, the FSB head noted.
"Currently, the situation in the CIS and in the world as a whole remains tense. The United States, the United Kingdom and their NATO allies, in an effort to maintain global dominance, are using the entire arsenal of 'hybrid' warfare against sovereign states that disagree with their policies, including support for openly terrorist regimes," Bortnikov said.
Ukrainian authorities, without the real opportunities to achieve their goals on the battlefield, turn to the use of total terror, Bortnikov said.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other states.