The body count continues to grow in what is being called a “terrorist attack” on a massive concert and shopping center in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his nation in a televised address Saturday that 11 people had been detained in connection with Friday’s deadly attack on a popular Moscow concert venue, including the four gunmen who had opened fire, killing at least 133.
Putin claimed the assailants had been trying to escape via Ukraine, “where according to preliminary data, a window for them to cross the state border was prepared by the Ukrainian side.” Ukrainian officials have denied any involvement in the attack.
Late Friday, gunmen armed with automatic weapons attacked the Crocus City Hall — a massive shopping and entertainment venue on the outskirts of Moscow — and set the concert hall alight. The assault followed U.S. government warnings this month about a “planned terrorist attack” in the Russian capital.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said more bodies were found at the site Saturday, adding that the death toll was expected to rise, with 16 of the 107 hospitalized victims in grave condition and 44 in serious condition.
Putin called the attack a planned and an organized mass murder of innocent and defenseless people, and he promised swift retaliation.
“The criminals in cold blood, purposefully went to kill and shoot at point-blank range our citizens and our children, as the Nazis did who committed massacres in the occupied territories. They planned to stage a demonstrative execution, a bloody act of intimidation,” he said. “All perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of this crime will be fairly and unavoidably punished, whoever they are or whoever directs them.”
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Friday night attack, already one of the most deadly in modern Russian history, which left about 140,000 square feet of the venue in Krasnogorsk in flames, according to Russia’s emergency services. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, told The Washington Post that the United States had “no reason to doubt” the claim from the Islamic State.
The combination of a highly repressive regime which also has astonishingly inept security appears at first startling but is actually the norm.
Regimes like Russia and China always direct their security apparatus not at actual threats to the public, but at threats to the regime. They have a keen ability to sniff out a dissident in the most remote region, but can’t find a mugger who operates in broad daylight.
The response shows this pattern, where they are less interested in finding the actual perpetrators, and more interested in finding a way to use the attack as political fodder.Report
You also end up with security services that prioritize loyalty rather than competence.Report
A police force that is pretty good at crushing soft internal dissent but not particularly good at dealing with actual criminal threats.Report
This is true but even the security organizations in democratic governments end with their pants down more often than not. See 9/11, the Simchat Torah massacre, etc.Report
Terror suspects appear in court in Russia showing signs of torture and abuse
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/25/russia-terror-attack-suspects-torture/
This is the regime that Trumpists admire and want to help conquer Ukraine.Report