At least 133 people were killed in the attack on a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow this Friday evening. The armed attack was unanimously condemned by the international community and claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State. This Saturday afternoon, the day after the assault, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in a brief televised address. The recently re-elected head of state denounced a “barbaric terrorist act” and promised that those responsible would all be “punished”. The Russian leader assured that the attackers had been arrested on their way to Ukraine and did not mention the claim of the Islamic State jihadist group.
All attackers arrested
He also announced a day of national mourning in tribute to the victims, which will take place this Sunday. “I express my most sincere condolences to those who lost their loved ones (…) I declare March 24 a day of national mourning,” declared the head of state, also denouncing a “bloody massacre”. Earlier in the day, the Kremlin announced the arrest of 11 people, including four suspected perpetrators of the shooting. These four alleged perpetrators of the attack, all “foreign citizens”, were arrested in the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine and Belarus, according to the authorities.
During his speech, Vladimir Putin assured Saturday that “all four perpetrators” of the attack which killed around a hundred people in the suburbs of Moscow on Friday had been arrested while they were “heading towards Ukraine”. “They were heading towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary data (from investigators), a ‘window’ had been prepared for them to cross the border,” he accused, before assuring that “those who are behind these terrorists will be punished” and that they “will not have an enviable destiny”.
Vladimir Putin took up the version of events presented earlier by his security services (FSB) and, like them, made no mention of the involvement of ISIS during his first televised address since the tragedy. The jihadist group, however, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying its fighters had “attacked a large gathering” near Moscow. This attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall is the deadliest in the country in twenty years, as well as the bloodiest to have been claimed by ISIS in Europe.