The Russian president Vladimir Putinwho until now has not attended any ceremony of tribute to the victims of the attack near Moscow nor visited the families or the injured, he feels regret, said the Kremlin.
“The head of state feels personally and fully involved in this type of tragedy. Believe me, even if you don't see tears on his face, that doesn't mean he doesn't suffer,” said the presidential spokesman. Dmitri Peskov, in a brief interview on Saturday.
On March 22, armed men entered the Crocus City Hall, a large concert hall near Moscow, before shooting into the crowd and setting the building on fire.
According to the latest count by Russian rescuers, at least 144 people died and 551 were injured in this attack claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State, the deadliest attack in Russia in the last twenty years.
After the tragedy, the Russian president waited until the next day to speak publicly and the Kremlin indicated on Thursday that it had not immediately planned to meet with the families of the victims, nor to go to the scene of the attack.
On Saturday, Western diplomats, especially Americans and Europeans, as well as African and Latin American countries, went to the site to lay flowers and observe a minute of silence, the Ria Novosti agency reported.
Putin signs decree to call up 150,000 Russians between 18 and 30 years old
Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed the decree for the first call-up in 2024, which extends the age to 30 years, three more than in the previous one in autumn 2023, and will affect 150,000 Russians.
“Carry out between April 1 and July 15, 2024 the call to military service of Russian citizens between the ages of 18 and 30,” says the document published on the Russian Government's legal information portal.
The decree does not extend to those who turned 27 before the end of 2023 and reservists who are 28 and 29 years old.
It also provides for a moratorium on the service for citizens who work in computer companies.
In addition, it establishes the release of soldiers, sailors, sergeants and corporals who have already completed their service.
Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, the head of Organization and Mobilization of the Russian General Staff, reported last week that the newly drafted recruits will not participate in the war with Ukraine nor will they be sent to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia , annexed in 2022.
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