“They are foreign citizens”: the Ministry of Internal Affairs denied that the perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Crocus had Russian passports

The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irina Volk, denied allegations that appeared on Telegram channels and social networks that the suspects in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall are Russian citizens.

“This information is not true. All of them are foreign citizens,” the statement said.

According to her, the migration divisions of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, in cooperation with colleagues from the FSB of Russia, carefully check the grounds and find out the duration of stay of each of the detainees on the territory of the Russian Federation, establish the addresses of actual residence, as well as other significant circumstances.

“We urge journalists and bloggers to refrain from publishing unverified information and premature assessments, and to trust only official reports from law enforcement agencies,” Volk added.

As reported by the Russian Investigative Committee, four terrorists who participated in the shooting of people and the arson of Crocus City Hall were detained in the Bryansk region, not far from the border with Ukraine. According to FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, a total of 11 people were detained.

According to Vladimir Putin, law enforcement agencies are working to identify and uncover the entire support base of terrorists. We are talking about those who provided criminals with transport, mapped out escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches and caches of weapons and ammunition.

The President of the Russian Federation noted that all the perpetrators, organizers and customers of this “bloody terrorist attack” will suffer fair and inevitable punishment.

“Whoever they are, whoever guides them. I repeat: we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity, this attack on Russia, on our people,” he added.

A video of the interrogation of one of the detainees was published on her Telegram channel by the editor-in-chief of RT and MIA Rossiya Segodnya, Margarita Simonyan.

Also on russian.rt.com Video of the interrogation of a detainee after the terrorist attack in Crocus

As noted by the Investigative Committee, the terrorists used automatic weapons during the attack and used flammable liquid to set fire to the premises of the concert hall.

The chairman of the department, Alexander Bastrykin, also instructed that the man who selflessly neutralized one of the terrorists be nominated for a departmental award.

“During the terrorist attack, one of those present in the hall showed unparalleled courage. A man, trying to protect his wife from terrorists who were shooting at people, attacked one of them and neutralized him. With his active and decisive actions, he saved the lives of the people around him at that moment,” the message says.

Along with this, Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said that all prosecutors are instructed to provide all possible assistance and ensure the rights and legitimate interests of victims of a terrorist act, as well as their relatives and friends. He also noted that many foreign colleagues expressed their condolences and declared their readiness to “jointly resist international terrorism in order to implement the principle of the inevitability of punishment.”

According to the latest data, 133 people became victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall. According to the Investigative Committee, the death toll may increase as search operations at the scene of the tragedy continue. As follows from the data of the Ministry of Health of the Moscow Region, 127 victims were registered, 105 of them remain in the hospital, two more were discharged.

Vladimir Putin, in his address to the Russians, expressed confidence that doctors will do everything possible and even impossible to preserve the life and health of all the wounded.

“Special words of gratitude to the ambulance and air ambulance crews, special forces soldiers, firefighters, rescuers who did everything to save people’s lives, bring them out from under the fire, from the epicenter of fire and smoke, and avoid even greater losses,” the Russian President said .

The head of state also noted ordinary citizens who, in the first minutes after the tragedy, provided first aid and took the victims to hospitals.

“We will provide the necessary assistance to all families whose lives have been affected by terrible misfortune, the wounded and injured. I express my deep, sincere condolences to everyone who lost their loved ones. The whole country, our whole people, mourns with you. I declare March 24 a day of national mourning,” Putin added.