On Friday evening around 8pm, a group of armed men entered the Crocus City Hall, a large theater in the northwestern outskirts of Moscow, Russia, and shot people present with automatic weapons, then starting a fire which caused the roof of the building to collapse. ‘building. According to the latest news released by the Russian security services, at least 133 people have been killed, including three children, and 145 have been injured. Of these, approximately 60 are in serious condition: they have been activated on site collection points of blood for transfusions and the rescue operations are not yet finished. In a statement the security services wrote that the number of deaths and injuries is expected to increase.
It’s Saturday morning been stopped a car near the border with Belarus and Ukraine, over 500 kilometers from Moscow: the car was a white Renault, among those wanted to reach those responsible. The police have arrested 11 people suspected of having participated or contributed to the organization of the attack, and among them there would also be the 4 men who broke in and shot in the theater. Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly commented on the attack only on Saturday afternoon: he released a video in which he said that new anti-terrorism measures will be taken in the country.
Putin added that those responsible for the attack were arrested on their way to Ukraine, where according to Russian intelligence there were preparations for them to cross the border. Ukraine said in the first hours after the attack that it had nothing to do with the attack, and US intelligence also said there was no evidence of its involvement. In fact ISIS has claimed the attack already on Friday evening through its “unofficial” news agency al Amaq. Second some US officials informed by intelligence, the attack was carried out by ISIS-K, a terrorist group affiliated with ISIS and active primarily in Afghanistan. Putin did not explicitly blame Ukraine, but said the terrorists went to Crocus City Hall with the express purpose of killing in cold blood, “just as the Nazis carried out massacres in their occupied territories in the past.” The bogeyman of Nazism is widely used in Russian government propaganda, especially to justify the invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.
Putin finally addressed Russians regarding the act of terrorism in Krokus City Hall.
He didn’t forget to mention Ukraine but didn’t blame directly. No mention of ISIS despite multiple intelligence services reports from different countries that ISIS could be behind the act of… pic.twitter.com/w0Fn4kVML1
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 23, 2024
ISIS-K – “K” stands for Khorasan, the name of the historical region that includes parts of present-day Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia – it was actually founded in 2014 by several hundred Pakistani Taliban who found refuge just across the border, in Afghanistan, after fleeing from some military offensives carried out by Pakistani security forces.
Since 2021, especially after the United States withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban took power, ISIS-K has gained strength and in the past months has begun to plan attacks outside Afghanistan as well. He claimed some in Iran. Analyst Colin P. Clarke said al New York Times that in the last two years ISIS-K had frequently criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and his propaganda, claiming that he was a murderer of Muslims (in reference to his military interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria).
In the hours following the attack, an enormous amount of vehicles including police, ambulances, fire trucks and helicopters arrived at the theatre. Testimonies speak of two explosions caused by the fire, which according to Russian authorities was caused by setting fire to a flammable liquid while people were inside the room. Helicopters were sent to put out the fire caused by the explosions.
The Crocus City Hall is part of an extensive complex which includes a shopping centre, a conference center and several hotels and restaurants. The attack was carried out shortly before the start of a concert by Picnic, a rock band. The theater can accommodate up to 9mila people: for the concert they had been purchased over 6mila tickets and it is currently unknown how many people were inside the theater when the attack began.
Some Russian rescuers among the rubble of the theater on Saturday morning (Press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry via AP)
At least 100 people were rescued from the basement of the building, where they had taken refuge from the gunfire. The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, has announced that all public events – cultural, sporting or otherwise – scheduled in Moscow over the weekend are cancelled. The authorities of other Russian cities such as St. Petersburg, Stavropol, Murmansk, Vologda and Kursk did the same.
The US embassy in Moscow made it public on March 7 a security alert for US citizens in the city, because he had received “reports that extremists” had “imminent plans to target large gatherings of people in Moscow, including concerts.” According to the embassy, this alert would have remained valid for 48 hours, therefore until March 9th. A few days ago Russian President Vladimir Putin downplayed these alarms, saying that these were “provocations” from the West that had the intent to “intimidate and destabilize our society”.