Putin: 'We Know Who Carried Out The Attack - We Want To Know Who Ordered It'

Putin: "We know who carried out the attack. We want to know who ordered it.”

RT

The Russian president still suspects that Ukraine was complicit in the tragedy

The US and its allies are now trying to cover for their proxies in Kiev, insisting that Ukraine had nothing to do with the terrorist attack and that the party responsible was Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), the Russian president noted.

“But we know who carried out the attack. We want to know who ordered it.”

Russian law enforcement is currently looking into the perpetrators, who have been apprehended and brought before a judge. The investigation must be “professional, without any political bias,” Putin said. 

More than 130 people were killed at the concert venue northwest of Moscow on Friday evening, when several armed men began shooting into the crowd and set the hall on fire. A terrorist group calling itself Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility.

Russian security services detained seven alleged perpetrators, who were driving towards Ukraine, as well as four of their suspected accomplices. The men were identified as ethnic Tajiks. 

Putin noted that the fact the terrorists were headed for Ukraine posed questions that needed answering. 

“Who was waiting for them there? It is clear that those who support the Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices and sponsors of terrorism. But a lot of questions remain,” he said.

The US and the EU swiftly insisted that Ukraine had nothing to do with the attack and that IS – a shadowy group allegedly operating in Afghanistan and Central Asia – was the sole culprit.

Official death toll in Moscow terror attack climbs to 139

The death toll in last Friday’s terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow Region has grown to 139, after two more victims died in hospital, the chair of the Russian Investigative Committee Aleksandr Bastrykin has said.

The announcement comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin convened a meeting on Monday with representatives of law enforcement agencies and leaders from the capital and Moscow Region, about measures to be taken after the terrorist attack.

“As a result of the attack, 139 people died, of which 75 have been identified today. Three children were among the dead. Of the total number, 137 died at the scene of the attack, two died in medical institutions,” Bastrykin told the president.

According to the head of the investigative committee, 40 people died from gunshot wounds, and two from a combination of gunshot and stab wounds.

“As a result of the fire, 45 people died from exposure to high temperature and to the by-product of combustion,”Bastrykin stated, adding that 182 people had sustained injuries of varying severity.

At least four suspects armed with assault rifles stormed the venue on Friday evening ahead of a rock concert. The attackers entered the concert hall, shooting civilians at point-blank range, then set it on fire. 

The men fled the scene after the attack, but were eventually apprehended by Russian law enforcement near the country’s border in Bryansk Region. According to preliminary findings, the attackers were seeking to cross into Ukraine.