Terrorists identified as non-Russian: Russian Interior Ministry
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The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the detention of eleven individuals in connection with the attack, including four directly implicated in the incident.
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A view of the Crocus City Hall burned after an attack is seen on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (AP)
Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk on Saturday said that those detained in connection with the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue were not Russian citizens, as some reports claimed, but were foreigners.
"Today, allegations were circulated on a number of Telegram channels and social media that the four suspects in the March 22 terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, who fled in a Renault Logan car and were subsequently detained in the Bryansk Region, are Russian citizens. This information is not true. All of them are foreign citizens," Volk said on Telegram.
The spokeswoman mentioned that the ministry's migration units, in collaboration with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), are investigating the detainees' residency status, duration of stay in Russia, and verifying their residential addresses, among other pertinent details.
Read more: 4 Crocus attack perpetrators, with Ukrainian contacts, arrested: FSB
A terrorist shooting took place on Friday evening at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Krasnogorsk, located just outside Moscow, followed by a large-scale fire. An observer from Sputnik who was present during the incident recounted that a minimum of three individuals wearing camouflage attire forcibly entered the music hall, shooting at people from close range and hurling incendiary devices.
As per the most recent information from the Russian Investigative Committee, the terrorist attack claimed the lives of at least 134 individuals, with numerous others sustaining injuries. Authorities anticipate that the death toll will rise as further assessments are conducted, Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobiev said on Saturday.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the detention of eleven individuals in connection with the attack, including four directly implicated in the incident. According to the FSB, all four suspects were apprehended in the Bryansk region of Russia, which shares a border with Ukraine, within a few hours of each other.
Read more: Former CIA analyst suspects Washington knew about Russia terror attack
A video recently surfaced on Telegram showing one of the suspects confessing he opened fire on individuals at the concert venue in exchange for money.
عاجل 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨:
— شؤون روسية (@id7p_) March 23, 2024
أحد الارهابيين أعترف بأنه ارتكب الهجوم الإرهابي واعترف بأنه تم تجنيده مقابل 500 ألف روبل!
وبحسب قوله، تواصل معه احدهم عبر تطبيق تيليجرام وعرض عليه تنفيذ هذه العملية إرهابية.
ماذا كنت تفعل في موسكو؟!
- أطلق الرصاص من أجل المال! pic.twitter.com/8jA15QjGS4
Initially, the suspect claimed he was assured a payment of 500,000 rubles ($5,400), but only half of the promised sum was transferred to his bank account. However, later on, he stated that he had been promised around 1 million rubles.
The individual detailed that approximately a month prior, he was contacted via Telegram by an unidentified individual who subsequently provided him with weapons. He further disclosed that his decision to carry out the terrorist attack was influenced by a conversation with an associate of a "preacher".
The suspect admitted that his handlers had instructed him to eliminate all individuals present at the concert venue. Additionally, in the video footage, the detainee verified that he had entered Russia from Turkey on March 4.
"There [in Turkey] ... the documents expired, and I crossed the border here," the detainee added.
