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

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.

The Russian Investigative Committee has updated the death toll in the Crocus City attack to 115.

A list of the 121 people injured in the attack on Friday evening has been published by the Health Ministry of the Moscow region.

The Russian Ministry of Health has announced that 44 of the people who were injured in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall on Friday are in serious condition, including two children.

“The condition of 16 victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus, including one child, is extremely serious,” a senior official at the Ministry said.

The governor of Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, said Saturday that the victims of the terror attack would receive financial compensation from the region and city governments.

Vorobyov said the relatives of each of those who died would receive three million rubles ($32,500), while those injured and in hospital would receive one million rubles ($10,840).

“Children registered in the Moscow region whose father or mother died in the tragedy will also receive monthly payments. In addition, we will compensate everyone for burial expenses and resolve all legal issues,” Vorobyov added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned the “terrible terrorist attack on innocent concertgoers in Moscow” in a statement on Saturday.

“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and all those injured,” Scholz added.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Saturday said she mourned with the families of the concertgoers who were “murdered in cold blood.”

“We condemn cowardly, inhumane terror - anywhere. Our sympathy goes out to the people of Russia,” Baerbock said in a post on X.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Saturday said the United Kingdom condemned “in the strongest terms the deadly terrorist attack” in Moscow that took place on Friday night.

“We offer our heartfelt condolences and express our deepest sympathy to the families of the many victims,” Cameron wrote on X. “Nothing can ever justify such horrific violence,” he added.

The four men suspected of carrying out the attack on the Crocus City complex near Moscow on Friday were arrested while trying to cross Russia's border with Ukraine, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.

“Special services and law enforcement agencies in the Bryansk region, near the border with Ukraine, detained four suspects from among those who committed a terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall concert hall,” the Committee said.

According to state media RIA Novosti, "the weapons used by the terrorists were prepared in advance in a cache, the FSB [Security Service] reported.”

“After the terrorist attack, the criminals intended to cross the border of the Russian Federation and Ukraine and had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side, the FSB said,” according to RIA.

State-owned Russian news agency TASS also reported that the assailants had “contacts on the Ukrainian side. The terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall was carefully planned.”

Neither agency specified the nature of the alleged contacts.

Ukraine has strenuously denied any connection with the attack. One official, Mykhailo Podolyak said in a post on X on Friday that Ukraine “has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods. It is always pointless.”

Earlier, unofficial sources had published images of a white Renault car - similar to that caught on video outside the hall on Friday - that had been stopped on a highway south of the city of Bryansk in the early hours of Saturday. The images showed it had been extensively damaged.