Russia in mourning after concert hall massacre
Moscow arrests 11 suspects as death toll climbs to 133
MOSCOW (AFP) — Russia observed a national day of mourning on Sunday after a massacre in a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people, the deadliest attack in Europe to have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack,” saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had been arrested.
Kyiv has strongly denied any connection, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Putin of trying to shift the blame onto them.
“The whole country is in mourning with those who lost their loved ones in this inhumane tragedy,” public television channel Russia 24 said on Sunday morning.
Putin, in his first public remarks on the attack, made no reference to a statement by IS claiming responsibility.
At least 133 people were killed when camouflaged gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow’s northern suburb of Krasnogorsk, and then set fire to the building on Friday evening.
The Islamic State group on Saturday wrote on Telegram that the attack was “carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and firebombs,” as part of “the raging war” with “countries fighting Islam.”
A video lasting about a minute and half apparently shot by the gunmen has been posted on social media accounts typically used by IS, according to the SITE intelligence group.
The video appears to have been shot from the lobby of the concert venue and shows several individuals with blurred faces and garbled voices, firing assault rifles with inert bodies strewn about and a fire starting in the background.
The attack was the deadliest in Russia for almost two decades.
Russian officials expect the death toll to rise further, with more than 150 wounded.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said rescue workers were still pulling bodies from the burnt-out building on Saturday.
The emergency situations ministry has so far named 29 of the victims, the blaze having complicated the process of identification.
The ministry on Sunday posted a video of heavy equipment arriving at the scene of the fire to dismantle damaged structures and clear debris.
“Terrorists, murderers, non-humans… have only one unenviable fate: retribution and oblivion,” Putin said in his televised address on Saturday.
Calling the attack a “barbaric, terrorist act,” he said “all four direct perpetrators… all those who shot and killed people, have been found and detained.”
Russian television showed security services interrogating four bloodied men, who spoke Russian with an accent, on a road in the western Bryansk region, which borders both Ukraine and Belarus.
“They tried to escape and were traveling towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,” said Putin.
Zelenskyy, in his evening address on Saturday, dismissed the suggestion that Kyiv had been involved.
“What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious,” he said. “Putin and the other scum are just trying to blame it on someone else.” Russia has arrested 11 people in connection with the attack, the FSB security service said. Earlier, the agency had said the attackers had “contacts” in Ukraine, without elaborating.
Putin, whose first public remarks came more than 18 hours after the start of the attack, declared Sunday a day of national mourning.
“All the perpetrators, organizers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished,” he promised.
The Investigative Committee said the death toll had so far reached 133 and the governor of the Moscow region said rescuers would continue to scour the site for “several days.”
Shocked Russians brought flowers and teddy bears Saturday to the Crocus City concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow to pay their respects to at least 133 people who died in a grisly attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
Mourners hung flowers on fences and piled them on the ground a short distance from the concert hall where gunmen opened fire on a crowd and set off explosives that started a huge fire. Amid the grief, firefighters pulled bodies from the rubble and worked to put out the flames.
Videos shared on social media showed candles and flowers being laid in memory of the dead and wounded at monuments across Russia and at Russian embassies abroad.
The attack happened just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power by securing a record-breaking fifth term after harshly suppressing opposition voices during a highly choreographed election. The attack was the deadliest in Russia in years and left the concert hall a ruin.
The assault shattered nerves in Moscow and recalled memories of similar attacks that happened in the early years of Putin’s presidency. Although Islamic State claimed responsibility, Putin pointed the finger of blame at Ukraine, where Russia is waging a war that has dragged into its third year. He cited no evidence for his claims.
As the death toll climbed and Putin ordered stepped-up security measures across the country, some Russians had questions.
“There are cameras everywhere that can trace opposition people going to a rally, and they are also stopped in the metro. But basic security did not work in a public event,” said Ekaterina in Moscow, referring to the crackdown ahead of the election. She, like several other Russians who spoke to the Associated Press, declined to give her surname because of security concerns.
“Does it mean that cameras are targeted on people who carry a book … but you can carry a bomb or a Kalashnikov, and that will be OK?” she asked referring to social media footage that showed the assailants in the concert hall with automatic weapons.
Russian state television focused on condolences from foreign leaders and the outpouring of grief across Russia. It shared images of the suspects and pictured officials visiting hospitals and directing the cleanup operation.
“I woke up this morning and decided I definitely have to come here,” a man named Mikhail told the AP near the concert hall. “There is no word for such scum … what they did is a terrible thing.”
“I couldn’t stop crying,” said Elvira, adding that she awoke Saturday and was “so depressed” by the rapidly increasing death toll.
Russian news agencies showed people lining up to donate blood. They said more than 3,000 people had already donated for victims of the attack.
Despite blanket coverage, state television lacked key information on the attack, which sent some pro-Western Russians looking elsewhere for details.
Repeated mass attacks
Russia is no stranger to mass attacks with high death tolls.
During the early 2000s and 2010s, a series of suicide bombings and attacks unfolded across Moscow, including the 2002 Nord Ost theater siege, where 132 hostages and 40 Chechen hostage takers died after a mishandled Russian rescue response.
Most of the attacks were carried out by Islamist separatists from the North Caucasus, but in recent years, they have largely stopped. The relative absence of such violence has lulled Russians into a sense of security, even while the country’s army fights in Ukraine.
“I am afraid that we may return to the times of the Chechen wars,” Mikhail Batsyn in central Moscow said, referring to apartment bombings that happened at that time. “I would really want for that to not happen and for this act of terror to remain a rare event.”
The fact that authorities were not able to stop the gunmen from rampaging through the concert hall, which reportedly had security measures in place, spooked many Russians.
On a social media chat group for a neighborhood south of the concert hall and shopping center, Russians discussed what precautions they would be taking in the coming days. Several suggested they would temporarily stop visiting shopping centers and busy places.
Putin called the attack “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and urged “our comrades at the front and all citizens in the country” to come together in its aftermath.
In a nationwide address, he alleged that Ukrainian authorities tried to create a “window” for the suspects to escape across the border.
“Some of my friends believe in the idea of Ukrainian interference, but I can’t imagine that it could be the truth,” said Elvira and several other Russians who spoke to AP.
Instead, they questioned why the attack had not been thwarted by Russian security services.
“Why is it that they say that there were warnings from foreign security services, but our services were completely indifferent?” asked a woman in Moscow named Olga, referring to reports that Western governments had warned Russian officials that an attack was being planned. “How can this happen in 2024?”