The mother of two brothers believed to be responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing insists her sons are innocent and were “set up,” according to a telephone interview with RT-TV, also known as Russia Today.

RT reports it had the accused Boston Marathon bombers’ mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, on the telephone from Makhachkala in Russia’s Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus region.

“What I can say is I am really sure, I am like 100-percent sure that this is a set-up,” the woman said. “My two sons are really innocent, and I know that neither of them never, never have talked about whatever they’re saying about now, and what I want to say is … my youngest one was raised actually … from 8 years, he was raised in America, and my oldest son, he is like really, really proper raised in our house, never, nobody talked about terrorism.”

The suspects in the bombing on April 15 that reportedly killed three people and wounded 183 others are 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who remains at large, and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed after a police car chase. Their family originates from Russia’s North Caucasus, but settled in the United States more than a decade ago.

“My son, Tamerlan, really got involved in … religious politics five years ago,” the woman continued. “So he started following his own [religion], and he never, never told me that he would be, like, on the side of jihad; and whatever they are talking, [whoever] is talking about, him being a loser, [they] are the losers.”

In fact, it was the suspects’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, who used the term “losers” in an interview in which he speculated his nephews may have been motivated by “hatred” because they were unable to “settle themselves” in America. He begged the young men to turn themselves in and later insisted he wasn’t talking about his nephews as the “losers,” but only “those who are able to make this atrocity.”

“My son would never do this. It is a set-up,” the woman continued in her interview with RT. “He was controlled by FBI for like, three, five years. They knew what my son was doing. They knew what actions and what sites on the Internet he was going. He used to come home, they used to come and talk to me. They used to tell me that, you know, that they are controlling his – they were telling me that he’s really a serious leader and they’re afraid of him. They said, they told me that whatever he is, whatever country decides, whatever is there, whatever information he’s getting, they are controlling him, so how could this happen? How could they – they were controlling every step of him, and they’re telling today that this is a terrorist act. Never, ever! This is not true. My two sons are innocent.”

See “Jihad in America: The Grand Deception,” which reveals the threat that is hidden in plain sight for Americans.

The RT reporter speaking with her asked how she might explain the violent chase the young men were involved in, firing at police and throwing explosives from their vehicle.

“I never believe into it, I never believe into it,” she said. “I know my sons never talk about those things. I am a mother, I raised them. They were highly intelligent. The FBI were scared of my oldest son; they always told me that he was a leader. They were afraid of him because they think that he’s a leader. He talks about Islam a lot, and that they told me what they were talking to my son, and they called me officially, and they told me that my son is an excellent boy and they have no problem with that. … At the same time they were telling that he’s like a, he’s getting the information in a really, extremic [sp] site. So that’s why I think that it’s a set-up.”

The reporter pressed, asking her if she saw any chance her boys were hiding “a side” of themselves from her.

“It’s impossible,” she said. “Impossible for both of them to do such things, so I’m really, really, really telling that this is a set-up. My son would tell me; my son never would keep it in secret, so I would know. … If there was anyone who would be knowing, it would be me. Mother. He would never hide it from me. He would tell me that, but never, never even a word.”

What message might she have for her son still on the loose, the reporter asked.

“I would say, save your life and tell them the truth, that you haven’t done anything, that this is a set-up,” she replied.

“Somebody clearly framed them. I don’t know who exactly framed them, but they did. They framed them,” he said. “And they were so cowardly that they shot the boy dead. There are policemen like that.”

He continued, saying, “I can’t reach anyone (on the phone). I want to know about my children. I’m scared for my boy – that they will shoot him dead too somewhere. And then they’ll just say, ‘He had weapons.’ Where can kids get weapons, for God’s sake? They are picking them at a rubbish dump, those weapons?”

King called their accusations “absolutely wrong and really offensive,” given the U.S. “gave (the sons) sanctuary, gave them asylum.”

“It’s bad enough what their sons did. But for their parents to attack the country, to me is wrong,” he said. “To be lashing out at the United States after what the United States did for them and the opportunities the United States gave to their sons is really going much, much too far and I just find it really wrong.”

Meanwhile, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s in-laws released a statement condemning the suspected bombers’ actions, according to NBC News.

“In the aftermath of the Patriot’s Day horror, we know that we never knew Tamerlane Tsarnaev,” the statement said, using an alternate spelling of the older suspect’s first name.

They continued, “Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted.”

Another uncle to the suspects, Alviz Tsarni, said, “I don’t know how to say, I don’t feel anything. I’m just tired of everything.’”

Asked if he’s worried about his nephew, the remaining suspect, Tsarni asked, “What can happen to him? They will kill him. We know it, right? We don’t have to worry about this. What’s done is done.”

Tsarni added, “I’m very sorry for what happened,” he said. “From the first day, I was very sorry. I said, ‘Who can do like this stuff just for innocent people? Who? I don’t know what to say. Unbelievable. I don’t believe it now, even now.”

Tsarni said when he sees the evidence, “then I will know they did it.”

“I can’t believe it now, guys, believe me.”

The bombing suspects’ aunt said, “My first reaction was anger. How could this happen? How could this do this? For what? For the sake of what? What beliefs? What prompted them to this, this reaction?

“But then, I went through the material, whatever is in there. Quickly, quickly. My first call to FBI, ‘They could not have done this. Where is evidence? All you’re showing is just footage. Two guys are walking. I found it strange Tamerlan is walking in the front. Dzhokhar is in the back. Why wouldn’t they come together? you know? Together as brothers, as I used to know them.”

Asked if she is suspicious that the brothers really did bomb the Boston Marathon, she said, “No, I’m suspicious that this was staged! The picture was staged.”

When reporters asked the aunt who she believes is staging her nephews, she responded, “Whoever needs this. Whoever is looking for those who need to be blamed for these attacks. … who is interested in this case? When you’re blowing up people and you want to bring attention to something for some purpose, you do that math.”

The aunt also insisted her nephews “are normal young men, athletic … smart” and Tamerlan “seemingly didn’t find himself yet in America, because it’s not easy.”