Putin blames “radical Islamists” for the attack – and again refers to Ukraine
Concern about attacks in Germany – “The threat situation is higher than it has been for a long time”
After the IS attack in Moscow, Interior Minister Faeser warned that there was also an acute threat situation in Germany. Sebastian Hartmann, domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, said on WELT TV: “Terrorists not only rely on action, but also on fear.”
Initially, Russia suspected Ukraine – now President Vladimir Putin says that the attack on the Moscow concert hall with 139 deaths was carried out by radical Islamists. Seven men, including the four suspected shooters, were taken into custody in Moscow.
DAccording to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the terrorist attack near Moscow was carried out by 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 the principal is.
In doing so, Putin deviated from his original line, in which he had suspected a “Ukrainian trace” behind the bloody crime. Nevertheless, it should be clarified why the terrorists wanted to escape to Ukraine after the bloody act. “And who was expecting them there,” he added.
Now several questions need to be clarified. “How do radical Islamists, posing as devout Muslims and professing so-called pure Islam, come to commit grave atrocities and crimes during the holy month of Ramadan, which is holy to all Muslims?” Putin said 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.”
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.
View of the burnt down Crocus City Hall event center after the attack on the western edge of Moscow
Source: dpa/Alexander Zemlianichenko
Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the attack rose to 139. Of the more than 180 injured, more than 50 have already been released into home care, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatjana Golikova. 93 people, including five children, are still being treated as inpatients. By Monday evening, 75 dead had been identified.
After the attack, Russian security forces arrested eleven suspects in the Bryansk region, south of Moscow. Seven of the men, including the four suspected shooters, have now been taken into custody by the Basmanny District Court in Moscow.