Vladimir Putin, Russia President
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish those responsible for the “barbaric terrorist attack” on a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people, announcing that four gunmen attempting to flee to Ukraine have been caught.
Kyiv has flatly denied any connection, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Putin of attempting to transfer the responsibility to them. On Friday evening, masked gunmen entered and set fire to the Crocus City Hall in Moscow’s northern district of Krasnogorsk, killing at least 133 people.
The Daesh terror group said on Telegram Saturday that the attack was “carried out by four of its fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives, and firebombs,” as part of “the raging war” with “countries fighting Islam”.
Daesh has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in Russia in over two decades, as well as the bloodiest in Europe. Russian officials expect the death toll to grow further, with over 100 people injured in hospitals.
On Saturday, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates significant crimes, reported that rescue personnel were still retrieving bodies from the burned-out structure.
The emergency circumstances ministry has so far identified 29 victims, with the blaze complicating the process.
“Terrorists, murderers, non-humans… have only one unenviable fate: retribution and oblivion,” Putin said in a televised speech on Saturday.
Describing the attack as a “barbaric, terrorist act”, he claimed that “all four direct perpetrators … all those who shot and killed people, have been found and detained”.
Russian media showed security forces questioning four bloodied men who spoke Russian with an accent on a road in the western Bryansk district, which borders Ukraine and Belarus.
“They tried to escape and were travelling towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,” stated Russian President Vladimir Putin.
