Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin blames the terrorist attack near Moscow on Islamists. “We know that the crime was committed by radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said on Monday evening as he reviewed Friday’s attack, in which 139 people were killed. The clean-up work in the destroyed hall as well as the search for possible further victims under the rubble should be completed this Tuesday. “We now know whose hands perpetrated this crime against Russia and its people, now we want to know who commissioned it.”
To achieve this, Putin made it clear that several questions would have to be clarified. “How do radical Islamists, posing as devout Muslims and professing so-called pure Islam, come to commit serious atrocities and crimes during the holy month of Ramadan, which is holy to all Muslims?” Putin asked at the meeting with representatives cited by various authorities. It also remains to be seen “whether radical and terrorist Islamic organizations are really interested in attacking Russia, which today stands for a just solution to the escalating Middle East conflict.”
By saying that Islamists were behind the attack, Putin deviated from his original line in which he had suspected a “Ukrainian trace” behind the attack. At the same time, he did not completely abandon his propaganda of blaming Kiev for the attacks. It should be clarified why the terrorists wanted to escape to Ukraine after the bloody act. “And who was expecting them there,” he added. The attack is part of a series of Ukrainian intimidation attempts. “This atrocity may be just one link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 through the actions of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” the Kremlin chief said. Putin never presented any evidence of the allegations against Ukraine; Ukraine had always denied involvement.
The terrorist militia Islamic State has already claimed responsibility for the attack several times. Western security authorities and experts believe the confession is credible and suspect the IS offshoot Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK) was behind the attack.
Suspects with facial injuries before a judge
The four suspected perpetrators of the terrorist attack had previously been brought before a judge. They had severe facial injuries. They face life imprisonment. The suspects are to be taken into custody for two months by order of the court, the authorities announced on Telegram. According to media reports, three of the men are said to have pleaded guilty.
One of the suspects sits in a glass cage in the Basmanny District Court.
(Photo: Artyom Geodakyan/Imago)
The actual hearing took place behind closed doors, as the Russian state agency Tass reported. The terror suspect in the hospital chair who is said to have filmed the attack had “difficulty speaking”. The investigative committee accuses him and his three alleged accomplices of carrying out a deadly terrorist attack together.
Meanwhile, the security situation in Russia remains tense. Around 900 people had to leave the Izmailovsky consultation and diagnostic center of the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center in Moscow due to another bomb threat, Russian news agency Tass reports. There were no injuries during the evacuation, the press service said. The center’s mail room reportedly received a letter with information that four backpacks containing explosives had been hidden on several floors of the center. Victims of the recent terrorist attack on “Crocus City Hall” are also treated in the medical center.