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. “We now know whose hands perpetrated this crime against Russia and its people, now we want to know who commissioned it.”
Putin thus 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.
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. Russian propaganda initially tried to establish an alleged connection with Ukraine, against which Putin has been waging a brutal war of aggression for more than two years. However, there is no evidence for this claim. The Ukrainian leadership has also strictly rejected the allegations.
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.
The defendants were taken to the Basmanny Court in the Russian capital by masked security forces and placed in glass cages with clearly visible bruises, swelling, abrasions and lacerations. One of them was apparently unable to walk and was sitting strapped into a hospital chair with his eyes closed. Another had an unprofessional-looking bandage on his right ear.
One of the suspects sits in a glass cage in the Basmanny District Court.
(Photo: Artyom Geodakyan/Imago)
Before the court hearing, video footage was circulated online showing that the arrested men were tortured and one of them even had his ear cut off. It has not yet been possible to independently verify whether the recordings are authentic.
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.
Arrest in the Russian border area
After the crime in an event center near Moscow, there were a total of eleven arrests. Four of the suspects are considered to be the actual shooters – they are the ones who have now been brought before the judge. According to Tass, the arrest warrants were issued on Sunday evening. The four men were arrested at the weekend in the Russian border region of Bryansk and taken to Moscow.
Human rights activists repeatedly report humiliation, mistreatment and brutal torture methods in the Russian penal system. Publicly staged show trials therefore serve as a demonstration of state power and deterrence.