Russia casts doubt on Islamic State responsibility for concert attack
- Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the militant group has since released what it says is footage from the attack
- Putin has not publicly mentioned the Islamist militant group in connection with the attackers, who he said had been trying to escape to Ukraine
In the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, four men burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, spraying people with bullets just before Soviet-era rock group Picnic was to perform its hit “Afraid of Nothing”.
Four men, at least one a Tajik, were remanded in custody for terrorism. They appeared separately, led into a cage at Moscow’s Basmanny district court by Federal Security Service officers.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim which the United States has publicly said it believed, and the militant group has since released what it says is footage from the attack. US officials said they warned Russia of intelligence about an imminent attack earlier this month.
Putin said some people on “the Ukrainian side” had been prepared to spirit the gunmen across the border. Ukraine has denied any role in the attack and President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of seeking to divert blame for the concert hall attack by referring to Ukraine.
“Attention – a question to the White House: Are you sure it’s Isis? Might you think again about that?” Zakharova said in an article for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
Zakharova said the United States was spreading a version of the “bogeyman” of Islamic State to cover its “wards” in Kyiv and reminded readers that Washington supported the “mujahideen” fighters who fought Soviet forces in the 1980s.
Islamic State posts video of gunmen carrying out Moscow concert hall attack
The US has intelligence confirming Islamic State’s claim of responsibility, two US officials said on Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that Russia could not comment on the Islamic State claim while the investigation was ongoing, and would not comment on the US intelligence, saying it was sensitive information.
Putin said 11 people had been detained, including the four suspected gunmen, who fled the concert hall and made their way to the Bryansk region, about 340km (210 miles) southwest of Moscow, to slip across the border to Ukraine.
One man, a Tajik named Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, leaned against the glass cage as the terrorism charge was read out. Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, his ear in bandages, sat.
Muhammadsobir Fayzov, appeared in gaping hospital clothes and sat in a medical chair, his face covered in cuts. Shamsiddin Fariduni, his face bruised, stood.
The US and its European allies have supported Ukraine, extending billions of dollars of money, weapons and intelligence in a bid to defeat Russian forces.
