Russia observes nationwide day of mourning after Moscow live performance corridor bloodbath | EUROtoday

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish these behind the “barbaric terrorist attack”, saying 4 gunmen attempting to flee to Ukraine had been arrested.

Kyiv has strongly denied any connection, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Putin of attempting to shift the blame onto them.

Read extraZelensky says Putin searching for to ‘shift the blame’ for Moscow assault onto Kyiv

Putin, in his first public remarks on the assault, made no reference to a press release by IS claiming duty.

At least 133 folks have been killed when camouflaged gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow’s northern suburb of Krasnogorsk, after which set fireplace to the constructing on Friday night.

The Islamic State group wrote on Telegram Saturday that the assault was “carried out by four IS fighters armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives and firebombs,” as a part of “the raging war” with “countries fighting Islam”.

It is the deadliest assault in Russia for nearly twenty years.

Russian officers anticipate the loss of life toll to rise additional, with greater than 100 wounded in hospital.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes main crimes, mentioned rescue staff have been nonetheless pulling our bodies from the burnt-out constructing on Saturday.

The emergency conditions ministry has to this point named 29 of the victims, the blaze having sophisticated the method of identification.

The ministry posted a video Sunday of heavy gear arriving on the scene of the fireplace to dismantle broken buildings and clear particles.

‘Barbaric’

“Terrorists, murderers, non-humans … have only one unenviable fate: retribution and oblivion,” Putin mentioned in his televised tackle Saturday.

Calling the assault a “barbaric, terrorist act”, he mentioned “all four direct perpetrators … all those who shot and killed people, have been found and detained”.

Russian tv confirmed safety providers interrogating 4 bloodied males, who spoke Russian with an accent, on a street within the western Bryansk area, which borders each 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,” mentioned Putin.

Zelensky, in his night tackle Saturday, dismissed the suggestion that Kyiv had been concerned.

“What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious,” he mentioned. “Putin and the other scum are just trying to blame it on someone else.”

Russia has arrested 11 folks in reference to the assault, the FSB safety service mentioned. Earlier, the company had mentioned the attackers had “contacts” in Ukraine, with out elaborating.

Site search to proceed

Putin declared Sunday a day of nationwide mourning.

And he promised: “All the perpetrators, organisers and those who ordered this crime will be justly and inevitably punished.”

The Investigative Committee mentioned the loss of life toll had to this point reached 133 and the governor of the Moscow area mentioned rescuers would proceed to scour the location for “several days.”

Some 107 folks have been nonetheless in hospital, many in a vital situation, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova mentioned.

IS had first claimed duty for the assault on Friday evening, repeating its declare once more on Saturday.

Some witnesses filmed the gunmen from the higher flooring as they walked by way of the stalls capturing folks, sharing the footage on social media.

Then “the terrorists used a flammable liquid to set fire to the concert hall’s premises, where spectators were located, including wounded,” the Investigative Committee mentioned.

Investigators mentioned folks died each from gunshot wounds and smoke inhalation after a fireplace engulfed the 6,000-seater venue.

Investigators mentioned a person who jumped on one of many gunmen as he was capturing on the concert-goers, “immobilising” him and thus “saving the lives of people around him” would obtain an award.

Blood donation queues

Putin didn’t tackle IS’s declare of duty in his first public remarks Saturday, which got here greater than 18 hours after the beginning of the assault.

But in Washington, a press release from the White House condemning the assault described the group as a “common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere”.

The head of the state-run RT media outlet, Margarita Simonyan, posted two movies of interrogations of two handcuffed suspects. They each admitted to the assault however didn’t say who had organised it.

The inside ministry mentioned all 4 of the suspected gunmen have been overseas nationals.

Russian Telegram channels — together with these with hyperlinks to the safety providers — mentioned they have been from Tajikistan, a rustic that borders Afghanistan and the place the jihadist group is lively.

Tajikistan’s overseas ministry advised Russia’s TASS information company it was in shut contact with Moscow over the matter.

In Moscow, residents stood in lengthy strains within the rain to donate blood for these hospitalised, and mourners got here to put flowers exterior the live performance corridor.

Memorial posters that includes a single candle changed some promoting billboards within the capital and main occasions have been cancelled throughout the nation.

US warning dismissed

Just three days earlier, Putin had publicly dismissed a US warning of an “imminent” assault in Moscow as propaganda designed to scare Russian residents.

The US embassy in Russia had warned on March 7 that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts”, advising warning over the next 48 hours.

Washington mentioned after the assault it had additionally shared particulars immediately with Moscow.

But chatting with FSB chiefs final Tuesday, Putin had known as it a “provocative” assertion and “outright blackmail… to intimidate and destabilise our society”.

(AFP)