Putin said that the attackers who stormed the Moscow music hall attempted to flee to Ukraine. Kiev disputes any participation.
The gunmen’s blackened, smoking ruin was the suburban Moscow music hall where they opened fire on concertgoers on Saturday. Four suspects had been detained by Russian authorities, and the attack’s dead toll had topped 130. While escaping to Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin asserted that they were apprehended.
The Islamic State group’s unit in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Krasnogorsk, an allegation that Kyiv categorically disputed.
In order to fuel enthusiasm for Russia’s newly entered third year of war in Ukraine, Kyiv accused Putin and other Russian officials of fabricating links between Ukraine and the attack, even though Putin made no mention of IS in his speech to the nation.
The IS affiliate’s assertion was verified by US intelligence officials.
“This incident is entirely the fault of ISIS. A spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, stated in a statement that there was “no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever.”
According to Watson, the United States warned Americans living in Russia publicly about a planned terrorist strike in Moscow at the beginning of March and also provided information with Russia about it.
According to Putin, the attack left over 100 people injured and resulted in the arrest of 11 persons in total. He described it as “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and claimed that the four suspects were apprehended by Russian authorities while attempting to cross the border into Ukraine through a “window” that had been set up for them.
Videos purportedly depicting the custody and questioning of the suspects were released by Russian media. Among them was one who told the cameras he was solicited via a messaging app by an anonymous aide of an Islamic cleric and paid to participate in the operation.
According to Russian press reports, the shooters were natives of Tajikistan, a mostly Muslim former Soviet republic in Central Asia that borders Afghanistan. A significant number of Tajiks—up to 1.5 million—have Russian citizenship and have worked in Russia.
Upon being contacted for comment of the arrests, the foreign ministry of Tajikistan did not immediately reply. The ministry has previously refuted reports from the Russian media mentioning multiple other Tajiks who were purportedly participating in the raid.
The concept of a crackdown on Tajik migrants was advocated by many Russian hardliners; however, Putin seemed to reject it, stating that “no force will be able to sow the poisonous seeds of discord, panic or disunity in our multi-ethnic society.”
He announced that Sunday was a day of mourning and that Russia-wide security measures had been put in place.
With 133 fatalities, the incident was the bloodiest to have occurred in Russia in a long time. According to officials, the number might still go up.
The raid, which came just days after the Russian president solidified his hold on power for a further six years in a vote that followed the most severe suppression of dissent since the Soviet era, was a great humiliation to him.