March 23, 2024 Shooting at Moscow concert venue leaves over 130 dead

Belarusian special services helped Russia prevent the "terrorists" who allegedly carried out the deadly Friday night attack on a concert venue complex from escaping across the border Friday night, the country's ambassador in Moscow said.

“Since yesterday, active interaction has been carried out through special services. The head of the State Security Committee is in direct contact with his colleague,” Ambassador Dmitry Krutoy said Saturday, according to Belarus’ official news agency BELTA.

"And in fact, the main task of last night was to prevent terrorists from escaping across our common border. This task has been completed."

Some background: Russian authorities said the four men who allegedly carried out the attack on the Crocus City complex on Friday evening near Moscow were apprehended early Saturday in the region of Bryansk, a large region of southwest Russia which borders Ukraine and Belarus, without giving the exact location. The capital city of the region is some five hours drive from Moscow.

Russia is reeling on Saturday following a deadly assault on the outskirts of the capital that saw armed attackers enter a popular concert venue complex and open fire.

The incident is the deadliest terror attack in Moscow in decades.

Here are the latest developments:

Barely a week since Vladimir Putin secured his fifth presidential term, Russia has been plunged into carnage.

The appalling attack on the vast Crocus City Hall concert venue and shopping complex near Moscow – claimed by ISIS – left more than 100 people dead.

This is hardly the stability and security for which so many Russians voted for Putin. For years, the Kremlin strongman has been cast as a leader able to guarantee order in this vast, turbulent country.

But Russia today seems more insecure and volatile than at any point in Putin’s 24 years in power. The Kremlin’s brutal war in Ukraine, now in its third horrific year, has cost Russians dearly.

Ukrainian drone strikes and cross border raids by Ukraine-based Russian militias continue apace. The mutinous uprising last year of Yevgeny Prigozhin was a shocking, unprecedented challenge to Kremlin authority.

But now, the focus is firmly on the apparent reappearance in Russia of jihadists, unrelated to the Ukraine war or domestic opposition to the Kremlin. To make matters worse, the US and other Western governments warned of intelligence suggesting such an attack in early March.

Perhaps it was distrust, with US-Russian relations at such an historic low. It could also have been that the US intelligence was just too vague or not actionable. But for a leader who has promised security and stability to Russians, a large-scale terror attack on home soil is a powerful blow to his image.

The death toll in the Friday Moscow attack has risen to at least 133, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, published an image Saturday purporting to show the four men who attacked the Crocus City complex near Moscow on Friday.

None of the men are identifiable in the image, which was published by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency. All of them are wearing balaclavas and the rest of their faces are blurred.

ISIS described the attack as the "fiercest in years," according to a translation of the message by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terror groups’ propaganda.

Amaq provided details of the attack, saying three fighters attacked the gathered crowd at the venue with guns and knives while the fourth threw incendiary devices. It said the attack was preceded by an intensive surveillance operation of the venue.

It added that “the attack comes within the normal context of the raging war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam,” according to the translation by SITE.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed deep condolences following Friday's attack at a concert venue near Moscow, calling it a "barbaric terrorist act" in a video statement released Saturday.

He said the perpetrators "tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the border."

Several Ukrainian agencies have categorically denied any connection with the attack, and the Russian officials who have alleged Ukrainian involvement haven't offered any evidence.

Putin declared Sunday a day of mourning for the victims of the attack and described it as a bloody and barbaric act, which killed dozens of peaceful, innocent people. He expressed gratitude to emergency service workers who "did everything to save people's lives, to get them out from under fire, from the epicenter of fire and smoke," and to avoid even greater losses.

He promised the government would provide the necessary assistance to everyone, and added that additional anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage measures are being introduced in Moscow and the Moscow region.

Firefighters continue to combat fires on the roof, second and third floors of the Crocus City complex near Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has said, after a terror attack at the popular concert venue left at least 115 people dead.

According to the Ministry, the total area affected by the flames is 500 square meters.

Rescue teams have already cleared 41 cubic meters of rubble at the scene, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

A handful of Russian officials have suggested without evidence that Ukraine may have been involved in Friday's attack on the Crocus City complex near Moscow.

Following the announcement that the four men alleged to have carried out the attack were apprehended near Russia's border with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Telegram: “Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from persecution – Ukraine.”

The head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, told state news agency RIA Novosti that “Ukraine and its patrons are the main stakeholders in the terrorist attack at Crocus," adding that “if information about the Ukrainian trace in the terrorist attack is confirmed, there must be a clear answer on the battlefield."

Several Ukrainian agencies have categorically denied any connection with the attack.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Friday: “We consider such accusations to be a planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russian society, create conditions for increased mobilization of Russian citizens to participate in the criminal aggression against our country and discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community.”

Ukrainian Defense Intelligence alleged Friday – without giving evidence that the attack was planned by Russian special services to justify increased strikes on Ukraine.

Nearly 500 personnel are working to dismantle rubble at the scene of the arena attack in Moscow, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Saturday.

“In the morning, they started the dismantling of the most difficult part: the auditorium, where the ceiling partially collapsed," the ministry said. "The work will be carried out throughout the day.”

The Russian Investigative Committee has said that, as work continues at the site, the number who died in the attack would likely rise. At least 115 people have so far been confirmed dead. The names of 37 people who died in the attack were published Saturday by the regional government’s Health Ministry.

As work continues at the site, more testimony has emerged from people who were at the complex on Friday evening. One woman said on Instagram: “They [the assailants] were standing there at the exit. We got up and started walking. They saw us. Some of them ran back and started shooting at people. I fell on the floor and pretended I was dead. And the girl next to me was killed.”

“Then the flames flared up and they closed the door. They probably couldn't lock it. I lay breathing under the door. After some time, I crawled out, looked around, there was smoke everywhere, and I crawled towards the exit," she said.

The Kremlin is cancelling mass events scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, according to state media RIA Novosti, and many museums are temporarily closed.

Russian state media published images and video Saturday of queues at blood-donor centers in Moscow after Friday’s attack.