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Vladimir Putin: “We know that the crime was committed by radical Islamists”

Photo: Mikhail Metzel / AFP

According to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the terrorist attack near Moscow was carried out by Islamists. "We know that the crime was committed by radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries," Putin said on Monday evening in response to Friday's attack, in which at least 139 people were killed.

In doing so, Putin partially deviated from his original propaganda line, in which he had suspected a "Ukrainian trace" behind the bloody crime. However, the Russian president does not want to rule out a connection to Ukraine. It must now be clarified who ordered the attack on the concert hall near Moscow. "We now know whose hands committed this crime against Russia and its people, now we want to know who the person who ordered it is," said Putin. After all, the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine after the attack and the question arises as to why that was the case and who was waiting for them there.

“This atrocity may be just one link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 through the actions of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” Putin continued. The attack's planners hoped to sow panic and discord in Russian society. "But they met with unity and determination to resist this evil."

USA rejects “Kremlin propaganda”.

The Kremlin tried early on to link Ukraine to the attack. There is no evidence to support these claims. The Ukrainian leadership has strictly rejected the allegations. The White House also rejected the Russian leadership's statements as "Kremlin propaganda." Putin and his cronies in the Kremlin tried to find a way to blame Ukraine, National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said in Washington: "But there is no connection to Ukraine."

In fact, the terrorist militia “Islamic State” had claimed responsibility for the attack several times. Western security authorities and experts believe the confession is credible and suspect the IS offshoot “Islamic State – Khorasan” (IS-K) was behind the attack.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the attack rose to 139. Of the more than 180 injured, more than 50 have already been released into home care, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatjana Golikova. 93 people, including five children, are still being treated as inpatients. By Monday evening, 75 dead had been identified. The patients are spread across clinics in the capital and the Moscow region, and their injuries vary in severity.

The cleanup work in the destroyed hall and the search for possible additional victims among the rubble should be completed by Tuesday, said the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov. Grieving people continued to lay flowers at an improvised memorial site on the fence of the Crocus City site.

After the attack, Russian security forces arrested eleven suspects in the Bryansk region, south of Moscow. Seven of the men, including the four suspected shooters, have now been taken into custody by the Basmanny District Court in Moscow.

The four alleged main perpetrators appeared before the judge on Sunday evening. There were injuries on their bodies that indicated torture by Russian security forces. The Kremlin left questions about this unanswered.

sak/dpa/Reuters