Attack on concert hall
“The investigation is ongoing”: Kremlin raises doubts about IS’s commitment to the attack in Moscow
Officials from the Russian Investigative Committee view the rubble of Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow. Masked attackers entered here on Friday evening and opened fire.
© Russian Investigative Committee / TASS
After the fatal attack on visitors to a concert near Moscow, the Russian leadership remains unconvinced that the radical Islamic IS militia is responsible for the crime.
Even three days after the attack on a concert hall on the outskirts of In Moscow, with 137 deaths, the Kremlin has refused to comment on the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia’s claim to the crime. “The investigation is ongoing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. It would be inappropriate to comment on IS claims while the investigation is still ongoing. “No coherent version has yet been put forward,” Peskov continued. “We are only talking about preliminary data.”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in turn, addressed the USA directly in a guest article for a Russian newspaper, which considers the IS information to be credible. “Attention – a question for the White House: Are you sure it was ISIS? Could you think about that again?” Zakharova accused the USA of conjuring up the specter of IS in order to distract from its “protégés” in Kiev.
Four attackers kill more than 130 people in Moscow concert hall
Masked attackers broke into the packed Crocus City Hall in the northwest Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk on Friday evening and opened fire. According to the Russian Investigative Committee on Sunday, at least 137 people were killed, including three children.
Authorities expect the death toll to rise. Rescue workers would continue to search for the dead in the rubble of the concert hall until Tuesday evening, said Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region. 97 people were still in hospital. A total of 182 people were injured in the attack.
IS claims responsibility for the attack, Putin suggests a connection to Ukraine
Shortly after the attack, the jihadist militia claimed responsibility for the crime and later confirmed this several times. Media channels closest to IS have also published videos of the gunmen in the concert hall. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, established a connection between the attack and Ukraine. The government in Kiev denies any involvement in the attack.
Russian state television on Monday made no mention of ISIS or Ukraine, but reported that the country’s schools would hold special lessons on terrorism. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to visit the crime scene, Peskov also said. The head of state has another meeting scheduled on Monday with security officials and political representatives.
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Arrested suspects tortured?
On Sunday, the Russian judiciary ordered two months of pre-trial detention for four suspects. According to court reports, two of the four suspects pleaded guilty. Peskov declined to answer a question Monday about reports that the men were tortured after their arrest. “I will leave this question unanswered,” the Kremlin spokesman said. In the footage shown on state television, three of the men had blood on their faces. A video circulating online appears to show a suspect’s ear being cut, but the authenticity of the footage has not been verified.
One of the Russian opposition figures in exile, Leonid Volkov, condemned on Monday an attempt by the security services to use the publication of these videos to distract attention from their “powerlessness” and “failure.”
During the men’s hearings on Sunday evening at the district court in Moscow’s Basmanny district, one of them had a white bandage on his ear. Officials from the domestic intelligence service FSB wheeled one of the suspects into the hearing on a kind of medical transport chair, his eyes barely open.
Macron: IS branch responsible for attempted attacks in France
According to Russian state media reports, all of them are Tajik citizens. No further information was recently released about the seven other suspects who the Kremlin said were arrested in connection with the attack.
Responding to accusations that Russia’s special services had failed, Peskov said on Monday: “Unfortunately, our world shows that no city or country is completely immune to the threat of terrorism.” The special services worked tirelessly to defend Russia. “The fight against terrorism is an ongoing process that requires comprehensive international cooperation. But you can see that now, in this extremely acute period of confrontation, this cooperation is not being fully implemented in any way.”
Numerous countries condemned the Krasnogorsk crime. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday offered Russia “enhanced cooperation” to combat terrorism. The IS branch “involved” in the attack was responsible “for several attempted attacks in recent months” in France, Macron said.