Moscow attack: Putin vows retribution for ‘barbaric terrorist act’, FSB says gunmen have Ukraine contacts

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called an attack on a concert hall that killed more than 100 a “barbaric terrorist act” and vowed harsh retribution to all those involved.

In a televised address, Putin said all four gunmen had been arrested before they had a chance to cross the border into Ukraine.

“I am speaking to you today in connection with the bloody, barbaric terrorist act, the victims of which were dozens of innocent, peaceful people,” Putin said in his first public remarks since the attack.

“All four perpetrators of the terrorist attack who shot and killed people have been detained. They were travelling towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary information, they had a window to cross the border,” the Kremlin leader said.

Gunmen attacked the Crocus City Hall in a suburb on the northern edge of Moscow on Friday. The attack has been claimed by Islamic State group but Russian authorities have not mentioned this.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses citizens on March 23, 2024, following a terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow region a day earlier. Photo: EPA-EFE

“Terrorists, murderers, non-humans will face the unenviable fate of retribution and oblivion,” said Putin, who declared Sunday a day of national mourning across Russia.

Putin cast the enemy as “international terrorism” and said that he was ready to work with any state that wanted to defeat it.

Russia’s state Investigative Committee said 133 people had been killed. State TV editor Margarita Simonyan, without citing a source, had earlier given a toll of 143.

The FSB security service said the gunmen had contacts in Ukraine and were captured near the border. It said they were being transferred to Moscow.

Neither Putin nor the FSB publicly presented any proof of a link with Ukraine, with which Russia has been waging war for the past 25 months.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov said: “Ukraine was of course not involved in this terror attack. Ukraine is defending its sovereignty from Russian invaders, liberating its own territory and is fighting with the occupiers’ army and military targets, not civilians.”

He said the FSB version that the suspects were arrested en route to Ukraine was “of course another lie from the Russian special services”.

A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, said that if Ukraine was involved, then Russia must deliver a “worthy, clear and concrete” reply on the battlefield.

The death toll was the biggest single loss of life from terrorism in Moscow since Chechen separatists took hostages in 2002 at the Nord-Ost theatre. At least 170 people including the dozens of attackers died during a botched rescue mission.

At a meeting with senior FSB officers on Tuesday, Putin hit out at “frankly, provocative statements” by Western officials this month warning of a possible imminent terrorist attack. “All this resembles outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilise our society,” the president said.

Moscow attack: more than 1 Isis branch involved, Russia in its ‘crosshairs’

The US Embassy in Moscow issued a public warning on its website on March 7 that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts.”

While the US did not say specifically that the warning was related to the attack, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement on Friday that “the US government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow.”

“The US government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its long-standing ‘duty to warn’ policy,” she added.

The FSB said earlier this month it had prevented an attack on a Moscow synagogue by what it called an Afghan branch of Islamic State, Interfax reported.

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