Europe

Four appear in court over Moscow attack as Kremlin tries to link massacre to Ukraine

Death toll from attack at Crocus City Hall rises to 137 as rescue continue to search through ruins

Vladimir Putin lights a candle as Russia observes a national day of mourning after the massacre. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/AFP via Getty Images

Daniel McLaughlin in Kyiv
Mon Mar 25 2024 - 06:13

Grieving Russians laid flowers on Sunday at the gutted shell of a concert hall in a Moscow suburb, two days after it was stormed by gunmen during a massacre that was claimed by the Islamic State group, but which the Kremlin has tried to link to Ukraine.

The death toll from gunfire and a subsequent blaze at the Crocus City Hall rose to 137, as rescue teams continued to search through the ruins and hospitals treated many of the 180 people who were injured in Russia’s worst terrorist attack in 20 years.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said 11 suspects had been detained, including four gunmen who carried out the attack, and said anyone else involved in the “bloody, barbaric terrorist act” would be hunted down.

The four alleged gunmen are reportedly from Tajikistan in Central Asia, which borders the Afghanistan base of the Islamic State-Khorasan group, also known as Isis-K, which said it carried out the atrocity and published footage from the concert hall.

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The four suspects appeared in court in Moscow charged over the attack and were remanded in custody for two months at Sunday’s hearing.

Russia has charged four men it says are responsible for the terrorist attack at a concert outside Moscow, which killed over 137 people. Video: Reuters

The court released a video showing police officers bringing one of the suspects into the courtroom in handcuffs, as well as photographs of the same man sitting in a glass cage for defendants. One of the suspects was led blindfolded into the courtroom. When his blindfold was removed, a black eye was visible. Another suspect was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair.

The men – identified as Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Dalerdzhon Barotovich Mirzoyev, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Fayzov – face charges of a “terror attack committed by a group of individuals resulting in a person’s death”, according to the Tass news agency. All four pleaded guilty.

Authorities said the suspects were foreign nationals.

Mr Putin made no mention of Isis-K in a public address on Saturday, but claimed the attackers were caught while “moving towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary information, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border”.

A woman griefs at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk Photograph: Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

The suggestion of Ukrainian involvement, which was repeated by Russia’s FSB security service, drew a furious denial from Kyiv and dismissal from Washington.

“Putin and other scoundrels simply try to blame everything on someone else,” said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“They have come to Ukraine, they burn our cities – and try to blame Ukraine. They torture, rape people – and then accuse them. They have brought hundreds of thousands of their terrorists here, to Ukrainian land ... and they don’t care what’s happening inside their own country,” he added.

“All this happened, and this absolutely miserable Putin, instead of attending to his own citizens of Russia ... remained silent for a day – thinking about how to link this with Ukraine.”

The US embassy in Moscow warned on March 7th that US citizens in the city should avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours due to “reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings ... to include concerts”.

White House national security council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said “the US government also shared this information with Russian authorities”, and said: “Isis bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever.”

Last Tuesday, Mr Putin told a gathering of FSB officers that the US warnings were “provocative statements” that resembled “outright blackmail” and attempts to “intimidate and destabilise our society”.

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin is a contributor to The Irish Times from central and eastern Europe

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