Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned this Saturday the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, and named Ukraine as "complicit" in the attack.
The incident, where more than 150 people have died since Friday, was claimed by the Islamic State.
Putin said that "all the perpetrators, organizers and those who commissioned this crime will receive a well-deserved and inevitable punishment, whoever they are and regardless of whether they were sent," adding that four terrorists detained so far They tried to flee across the Ukrainian border, the newspaper quoted Public.
"A disastrous fate awaits terrorists, murderers and beasts, who do not and cannot have a nationality: revenge and oblivion. They have no future," the president said in a television address. He then qualified the claim of the Islamic State about the fact is false.
In that sense, he promised to "Identify and punish everyone who is behind the attack," and affirmed that peaceful and innocent people were victims of the terrorist attack at the Crocus theater.
"I cannot ignore the help of ordinary citizens who did not remain indifferent; we have to help all the families whose lives have been affected by a terrible catastrophe, the wounded and injured," he stressed.
Putin recalled the attacks carried out years ago by the Islamist guerrillas in the Caucasus, and said that "we expect cooperation with all countries that sincerely share our pain and are ready in practice to join forces in the fight against the common enemy, international terrorism. in all its manifestations".
Since Friday, the authorities have reinforced anti-terrorist measures in the country's capital and the adjacent Moscow region, where the incident took place in a concert hall located inside a shopping center.
Rescuers and specialized personnel are still working to remove debris from the facility, which was set on fire by terrorists after they shot at least 40 people. As the work progresses, authorities have announced that the death toll continues to rise and is currently around 150.
Putin announced that this Sunday will be a day of national mourning for the largest terrorist attack suffered by Russia since the Beslan massacre in 2004, where more than 300 people died.
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, visited the site of the tragedy and warned that the number of fatalities "will increase considerably" as search and rescue efforts progress.
According to Russian investigators, the cause of death of those attending the concert, where the tragedy occurred, is gunshot wounds and asphyxiation from smoke from the fire set by the attackers.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said this Saturday that 11 people have been arrested allegedly linked to the attack, including four alleged direct perpetrators of the attack. The Russian government has described the Islamic State's claim of the attack as false.
The day before, kyiv assured that it "has nothing to do" with the event: "Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with the shooting or the explosions at Crocus City Hall. It makes no sense," said the Office advisor. of the Ukrainian Presidency Mijailo Podoliak in a message on the social network
However, President Vladimir Zelensky announced that Russia would use the attack to "increase military propaganda", and "justify genocidal attacks against the civilian population of Ukraine".
The Ukrainian president's advisor also stated that long before Friday's shooting in the Russian capital, "we had heard public warnings from foreign embassies in Moscow about the possibility of such bloody excesses."
On March 7, the United States Embassy in Moscow warned of an "imminent" risk of a terrorist attack against large gatherings in the Russian capital, and recommended that American citizens avoid crowds.
"We are monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to attack large gatherings of people in Moscow, including concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to refrain from going to these locations for the next 48 hours," the embassy said in a statement. security alert published on its website.
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