Anzor Tsarnaev, the father of Boston marathon attack suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, described his son Dzhokhar as a "true angel," who is intelligent.
Tsarnaev, whose son Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police Thursday told ABC News that he had spoken with his sons Thursday.
In a separate (and as yet unconfirmed) interview with Russia's interfax news agency, a man purporting to be Anzor said that he believed that "Special Services" had framed his sons:
"I learned about the incident from TV. My opinion is: the special services have framed my children, because they are practicing Muslims. Why did they kill Tamerlan? He was supposed to be caught alive. The younger is on the run now. He was a sophomore at a medical school in the U.S. We expected him to come home for vacation. Now I don't know what's going to happen. Tell you once again: I believe special services have framed my children."
Reports on Twitter also claim that Anzor has said that "all hell will break loose," if his remaining son, who is currently on the run, is killed.
More from the Associated Press
MAKHACHKALA, Russia — In an anguished interview, the father of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing described his fugitive son as a smart and accomplished "angel."
Anzor Tsarnaev spoke with The Associated Press by telephone from the southern Russian republic of Dagestan after police said one of his sons, 26-year-old Tamerlan, had been killed in a shootout and the other, Dzhokhar, was being intensely pursued.
"My son is a true angel," the elder Tsarnaev said. He said his son was "an intelligent boy" who was studying medicine.
"We expected him to come on holidays here," he said.
"They were set up, they were set up!" he exclaimed. "I saw it on television; they killed my older son Tamerlan."
Tsarnaev, badly agitated, gave little more information and ended the call angrily, saying, "Leave me alone, my son's been killed."
The younger Tsarnaev gave few clues as to his inner life on his profile on Vkontakte, a Russian equivalent of Facebook, though he did include websites about Islam among his favorites.
The family's origins are in Chechnya, the mostly Muslim Russian republic where separatist rebels fought two full-scale wars with Russian forces since 1994.
A spokesman for Chechnya's leader said the family left Chechnya long ago and went to Central Asia, then moved to Dagestan, a Muslim republic adjacent to Chechnya that has been the site of a sporadic insurgency for more than a decade.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended School No. 1 in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. The principal's secretary at School No. 1, Irina Bandurina, told the AP that Tsarnaev left for the U.S. in March 2002.