The Kremlin refused on Monday March 25 to comment on the claim of the Islamic State (IS) organization concerning the attack near Moscow, which occurred Friday evening. “The investigation is ongoing and it would be wrong for the presidential administration to comment on the progress of the investigation. We will not do it,” assured Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov. He clarified that the Russian president had not planned at this stage to go to Crocus City Hall, the site of the attack.
Vladimir Putin’s chief communicator, added that “the president intends to hold a meeting to discuss the measures taken after the terrorist attack. The meeting will involve the heads of the security bloc, the social bloc and the heads of two regions, Moscow and the Moscow region.”
The Russian authorities have not mentioned this jihadist claim, but the security services and Mr. Putin have mentioned a link between the alleged perpetrators and Ukraine, without providing evidence. kyiv, which has been fighting an offensive by Russian troops for two years, has nevertheless denied any involvement. The United States also rejected the Russian president's version.
The profile of the other suspects remains very vague
Dmitri Peskov also did not want to comment on the suspects' allegations of torture, which emerged after the publication of videos on social networks and photos showing them with bloody faces. “I will leave this question unanswered,” Dmitry Peskov said when asked by journalists.
In footage of their arrests, shown on Russian public television, three of the men had blood on their faces. Another video, posted online and whose authenticity has not been confirmed, appears to show one of the suspects having his ear cut off by someone off-camera.
At the suspects' court hearing Sunday evening, one of them had a white bandage on his ear and another arrived in a wheelchair with his eyes closed.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for his part, congratulated “those who caught” the suspects, he declared that it was “more important to kill everyone involved. Those who paid, those who sympathized, those who helped.”
The authorities said they had arrested 11 people in total, including these four alleged attackers, but the profile of the other suspects remains very vague. Questioned by journalists on Monday about these seven other people, Dmitri Peskov kicked in, once again evoking the investigation.
