
Russia blames ‘unfriendly state’ for 2024 Crocus Hall terrorist attack
Svetlana Petrenko, a representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, claimed the attack aimed to "destabilize the situation in Russia."
Svetlana Petrenko, a representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, claimed the attack aimed to "destabilize the situation in Russia."
Several gunmen opened fire at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, a Moscow suburb, on the evening of March 22, killing at least 145 people and injuring more than 500 others.
A Russian law enforcement officer patrols near the Crocus City Hall concert hall outside Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2024, after the terrorist attack that killed at least 144 people. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)
Another Tajik citizen has been taken into custody due to his alleged connection with the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall on March 22, according to a Moscow court ruling on April 27.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) detained three more suspects in connection with the Moscow terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, Russian state media reported on April 4.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu held a call with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu, and expressed "France's solidarity with the victims" of the mass shooting at the Crocus City concert hall outside Moscow on March 22, Le Monde reported on April 3.
Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the Washington Post said that the U.S. specifically identified Crocus City Hall as a possible ISIS target in their briefings to Moscow. The disclosure calls into question the Kremlin's claims that U.S. warnings were too "general" to prevent an attack.
The 10th suspect, a Tajik native named Yakubjoni Yusufzoda, is suspected of providing money and accommodation to the perpetrators of the attack, Russian authorities claimed.
A Chechen Telegram channel unaffiliated with the regime of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov shared videos of what appeared to be Askhab Uspanov's dead body lying in a morgue, showing lacerations on his neck and other signs of apparent abuse.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that the four suspects, who were arrested in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, were plotting another attack in the Dagestani city of Kaspiysk.
Iran warned Russia of the possibility of a major "terrorist operation" on Russian territory ahead of the shooting outside Moscow last month, Reuters reported on April 1, citing three unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Around 27% of respondents blamed the Islamic State (ISIS), while another 6% pointed to the U.S., U.K., and NATO, according to a survey by OpenMinds, an Anglo-Ukrainian online pollster.
Russia is conducting raids on raids on dormitories and apartments known to house Central Asian migrants and is carrying out mass deportations in response to the recent terrorist attack on Moscow, Russian independent media outlet Meduza reported on March 30.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claims to have prevented "a terrorist attack in a crowded place" in Stavropol Krai in southern Russia, the Russian state-owned news agency TASS wrote on March 29.
Another suspect has been detained in connection with the March 22 terrorist attack in Moscow, Russia's investigative committee said on March 28.
According to Kyrylo Budanov, Russia knew from where the attackers would come and through which two countries they would enter Russian territory. "Don't let them tell you stories on how this (attack) appeared out of nowhere," the intelligence chief commented.
Russian authorities had previously estimated the number of wounded to be around 180.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tajik service also published an article on March 27 containing a series of interviews with the suspects' family members, many of whom said they found it hard to believe the men would have been motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs.
Some people from Russian President Vladimir Putin's own inner circle think that there is no evidence of Ukraine's involvement in the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in a Moscow suburb, Bloomberg reported on March 26, citing unnamed sources with ties to the Kremlin.
U.S. special services warned Moscow about the preparation and threat of a terrorist attack in Russia, but this information was "general," claimed Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), on March 26.
The Kremlin appears to have prioritized the strategic value of blaming Ukraine for the March 22 Crocus City Hall attack over potential internal security risks and civilian casualties stemming from its failure to effectively address the terrorist threat within its borders, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its recent report.
The suspects remanded on March 25 include the brothers Aminchon and Dilovar Islomov, and their father, Isroil Islomov. The three men live and work in Russia's northwest Tver Oblast.
Photos and videos of the alleged torture of the suspects have been widely circulated on Russian social media.
"It is necessary to get answers to a number of questions whether radical Islamists really decided to strike Russia," Putin alleged, insinuating that the attack was carried out on behalf of another "client."
Russian State Duma lawmaker Mikhail Sheremet suggested implementing restrictions on migrant entry into Russia in response to the March 22 Crocus City Hall attack. Sheremet claimed that Western intelligence agencies were potentially exploiting migrants to orchestrate terrorist activities within Russia, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.