Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. MIKHAIL METZEL / AP
After the Kremlin spokesperson refused to comment on the claim of the Islamic State organization in Khorasan (EI-K) regarding the attack committed Friday evening near Moscow, Vladimir Putin, on Monday March 25, blamed in the evening, the attack on “radical Islamists”. According to the Russian president, the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine.
“We know that (this) crime was committed by radical Islamists with an ideology that the Islamic world itself has been fighting against for centuries,” he told a government meeting, citing the link to the first time, three days after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. “We know who committed this atrocity against Russia and its people. What interests us is the sponsor,” he added.
“It is important to answer the question of why the terrorists, after their crime, tried to leave for Ukraine. Who was waiting for them there? “, he asked, while kyiv denied any involvement in the attack.
“Putin is talking to himself”
“We wonder who benefits from this?,” adds the Russian president. This atrocity may be a new episode in the series of attempts of those who, since 2014, have been fighting our country through the neo-Nazi regime in kyiv. »
“And the Nazis, it is well known, never disdained using the dirtiest and most inhumane methods to achieve their goals,” added Mr. Putin, repeating his story claiming that the offensive in Ukraine aims to overthrow a neo-Nazi regime.
“Putin is talking to himself again, and it was broadcast on television again. And again he blames Ukraine. He is a sick and cynical creature,” reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily evening speech.
In the morning, Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, said: “The investigation is ongoing and the presidential administration would be wrong to comment on the progress of the investigation. We will not do it”, while three new people were placed in pre-trial detention. Dmitri Peskov had clarified that the Russian president had not planned at this stage to go to Crocus City Hall, the site of the attack.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Attack near Moscow: fault lines at the top, a scapegoat outside
Add to your selections
Vladimir Putin's chief communicator added that “the president intends to hold a meeting to discuss the measures taken after the terrorist attack.” (It will be attended by) the heads of the security bloc, the social bloc and the heads of (…) Moscow and the Moscow oblast.”
The World Application
The Morning of the World
Every morning, find our selection of 20 articles not to be missed
Download the app
On Monday, Russian state television made no mention of IS-K or Ukraine, but it did say that patriotic education classes in the country's schools today focused on terrorism. At the scene of the attack, investigators continued to search the rubble of the concert hall, ravaged by a gigantic fire started by the attackers.
Also read the decryption | Article reserved for our subscribers Attack near Moscow: Central Asia, a new bridgehead for the Islamic State organization
Add to your selections
Eleven people arrested in total
Friday's massacre left at least 139 dead, according to a new toll announced Monday evening, in a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow, the deadliest attack on European soil claimed by ISIS. The number of injured rose to 182, of whom 97 were still hospitalized Monday, according to authorities. Members of the UN Security Council observed a minute of silence on Monday, at Russia's request, in memory of these victims.
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,” 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 on the Internet and whose authenticity has not been confirmed, appears to show one of the suspects having his ear cut off by an individual off-camera.
At the suspects' court hearing Sunday evening, one 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 and 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 eleven people in total, including these four alleged attackers already in prison. On Monday, Russian investigators requested the pre-trial detention of three of the suspects. “Three files have been received,” the Basmanny court in the Russian capital announced to Agence France-Presse.
These three men are accused of “terrorism” and face life imprisonment, according to the state agency RIA Novosti. Their pre-trial detention, set until May 22, may be extended pending their trial, the date of which has not yet been set. Asked by journalists on Monday about the other suspects, Dmitri Peskov did not respond, referring, again, to the investigation. The fight against terrorism “requires total international cooperation”, he said on Monday, but this “does not exist at all”.
Also read the decryption | Article reserved for our subscribers Attack near Moscow: Central Asia, a new bridgehead for the Islamic State organization
Add to your selections
“Increased cooperation”
French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, assured that he had offered Moscow “increased cooperation” on the subject. “We must guard against any instrumentalization or distortion, but be demanding and efficient. It is in this spirit that we are moving forward and I hope that Russia will do the same,” said the French president upon his arrival in Guyana. “It would be both cynical and counterproductive for Russia itself and the security of its nationals to use this context to try to turn it against Ukraine,” he insisted to the press.
The Islamic State organization claimed responsibility for the attack perpetrated Friday evening against a concert hall near Moscow. Its Afghan branch, the Islamic State in Khorasan (EI-K), is the first suspect for experts on global terrorism. According to Emmanuel Macron, the French intelligence services believe that this entity “fomented this attack and carried it out”.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers After the attack near Moscow, the Vigipirate plan enhanced due to “threats weighing on our country”
Add to your selections
The executive took note, during a meeting on Sunday evening at the Elysée, that “this particular group which is involved, it seems, in this attack, had carried out several attempts on (the) ground in recent months (French),” explained the head of state.
Reuse this content
Source link