Moscow massacre, Putin points the finger at Islamic terrorists
Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed the finger at “radical Islamists” believed to be responsible for last week's attack on a concert hall outside Moscow that left more than 130 people dead. “We know that the crime was committed at the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries,” the Kremlin chief said.
Friday's attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow is “an act of intimidation, you have to ask yourself who benefits from it.” This was said by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke for the second time since Saturday about the attack claimed by ISIS which cost the lives of 137 people. “The terrible crime committed on March 22 is an act of intimidation – he said, quoted by Ria Novosti – and the question immediately arises: who benefits from it?”. While admitting that the Moscow massacre was carried out by “Islamist radicals”, Vladimir Putin has once again evoked Ukrainian responsibility. “We must answer the question why the terrorists were trying to go to Ukraine and who was waiting for them there,” the president said, quoted by Ria Novosti. The attack was “an intimidation of Russia and the question arises who benefited from this”, he added, accusing the US of “trying to convince everyone” that Kiev had no role.
The Kremlin spokesperson, on the other hand, did not respond to a question “about visible signs of violence”, and therefore about possible torture, about the four people arrested on suspicion of the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall. This was reported by CNN, which asked the question. “I leave this question unanswered,” Peskov said.
Asked about the possibility of contacts between Moscow and Western countries regarding the terrorist attack, Peskov stressed that “there are no contacts with the West at the moment.”
The four alleged perpetrators of the attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow, which killed 137 people, have been placed in pre-trial detention for two months by a court in the Russian capital. The four are accused of “terrorism” and risk life imprisonment, the Basmanny court in Moscow said in a statement. Their pre-trial detention, set until May 22, may be extended pending trial, the date of which has not yet been set.
Tand possible torture. Swollen faces, with bruises and cut marks, one was even taken to the courtroom in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown and trousers. Thus, from the photos circulating in the international media, the four suspects of the Crocus City Hall massacre appear, all accused of terrorism and in precautionary custody until trial.
EU, Moscow does not use attacks as a pretext against Ukraine
'Naturally we are concerned about the indications of representatives of the Moscow regime seeking to create a link between this attack and Ukraine, which we obviously reject completely. There is no indication, there is no evidence that Ukraine is in any way connected to these attacks. We call on the Russian government not to use the terrorist attacks in Moscow as a pretext or motivation to increase illegal aggression against Ukraine, nor use it as a pretext for increased internal repressions.' EU foreign policy spokesperson Peter Stano said this in the daily press briefing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will chair a meeting with the heads of law enforcement and security agencies today to discuss the measures taken after the terrorist attack on the Crocus concert hall, which caused 137 confirmed deaths, including three children. This afternoon the president plans to hold a meeting to discuss measures taken after the terrorist attack. The meeting will be attended by senior officials,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. It will be a public meeting, he said. “The president continues to be informed by all respective services,” he added.
Paris offers 'more cooperation'
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has announced that he has offered the Russian authorities “greater cooperation” after the massacre in Moscow. The head of the Elysée announced that the Islamic State Khorasan group had tried several times to attack France. The branch of the terrorist group “involved” in the massacre in Moscow has carried out “several attempts” in France, the French president said on his arrival in Guyana. France has raised the alert level of the Vigipirate anti-terrorism plan to the maximum after the attack on Moscow claimed by ISIS.
Moscow massacre, Medvedev wants death penalty returned
After the massacre in Moscow, the debate on the death penalty reopens in Russia. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, did not want to answer CNN's question about the signs of torture seen on the faces of those accused of the attack. Moscow assures that there is still no “definite hypothesis” as to who was responsible for the massacre at Crocus City Hall which caused at least 137 deaths and was immediately claimed by the Islamic State. After the day of national mourning, this morning Peskov also defended the actions of the Russian security services, subjected to harsh criticism on social networks. And in the meantime the 'hammering' continues on Kiev, which has suffered numerous massive attacks in recent days. Ukraine, supported by US intelligence, has denied any involvement in the attack: it claims that Moscow may be looking for a pretext to mobilize even more troops for the war. And this morning, after the air alert, at least five explosions were heard in the capital. President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting today to discuss the measures to be adopted with the leaders of the security forces. The Kremlin did not want to comment on the videos circulating on social media which appear to document the brutal torture of the suspects: in one we see intelligence men cutting off the ear of one of the arrested people and stuffing it in his mouth, in another a suspect is beaten with a rifle butt. The four then appeared at the Basmanny district court in Moscow, very battered: their faces swollen, one with a bandage on one ear, another dressed in a hospital gown, practically lifeless on a chair. “Terrorists only understand retaliatory terrorism,” raised the bar Dmitry Medvedev, the former president, now deputy head of the Russian National Security Council. “No tribunal or investigation will suffice if force is not met with force, and deaths are not met with wholesale executions of terrorists and crackdowns on their families. Must they be killed? They must be and will be.” Russia has had a moratorium on capital punishment since the 1990s. Reintroducing the death penalty for terrorists would mean a return to Soviet-era practices of executing political prisoners. And Moscow has already officially designated Alexei Navalny's allies as “extremists and terrorists”; and classified the “international LGBT movement” as terrorist. The question that experts are now asking is what decisions Putin will make, taking into account the serious security problems that already afflict the country, which is grappling with continuous sabotage and incursions on the Ukrainian border.
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