Bodies were found, flowers were laid and fingers were pointed on Sunday as competing narratives took shape about who was behind the terrorist attack on a Russian concert hall that killed at the least 137 people who were attempting to enjoy a night of music.
President Vladimir Putin suggested that Ukraine was behind Friday evening’s attack. He shunned directly accusing Kiev, but on Sunday a few of his allies showed no such scruples.
U.S. officials said the attack seemed to be the work of an Islamic State offshoot and that there was no evidence linking Kiev to it. However, many Russian nationalist commentators and ultra-conservative hawks push the view that Ukraine is the obvious perpetrator.
It was written by pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei A. Markov, who usually appears on Russian state television post on Telegram that the Kremlin must work to isolate Ukrainian leaders by “linking the terrorist act, as much as possible, not to ISIS, but to the Ukrainian government.”
Russian state media barely mentioned that ISIS itself claimed responsibility for the attack on Crocus City Hall, a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow. U.S. officials said an offshoot of ISIS was linked to the attack. The Islamic State of Khorasan, often known as ISIS-K, was energetic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
Late on Sunday evening in a Russian courtroom, 4 men who appeared to have been severely beaten were charged with committing a terrorist attack.
Three men told the court they were from Tajikistan, and in keeping with Russian news outlets, the fourth suspect did as well. Islamic State has attracted 1000’s of supporters from Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan.
All 4 suspects had visible bruises and one had bandages on his head. Another needed to be wheeled in and out of the courtroom. Videos allegedly showing men’s brutality during interrogations are widely circulating on Russian social media.
On Sunday, the spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria V. Zakharova he said that the West pointed to ISIS-K responsible Ukraine. Russia has provided no evidence of Ukrainian involvement, and Ukrainian officials have denied the accusations.
So does the Biden administration.
“There is no evidence – and in fact we know that ISIS-K is in fact responsible for what happened,” Vice President Kamala Harris said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “
Reactions to the attack reflect, in part, the state of anxiety that Russia has been in since its forces invaded Ukraine.
Over the past two years, propaganda outlets have been competing with each other to push a single narrative, conspiracy theory or piece of speculation, and now some Kremlin analysts and critics say Putin may falsely attribute the attack on Kiev to justify another escalation in his relations. war.
On Saturday, Putin announced that the perpetrators would be punished – “whoever they’re and who sent them.” He didn’t mention a word about ISIS-K.
On Sunday, Russia marked a national day of mourning for the victims of the fiery attack.
Under a gray sky, surprised Russians came to lay flowers and light candles at the monument placed in front of the concert hall. Dozens of people waited in a long line for their turn, many clutching red bouquets, while work continued in the hall to dismantle the remains of the stage. Flags were lowered at half-mast on buildings across the country, and state media published a video of Putin lighting a memorial candle in a church.
Russia’s top law enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, said on Sunday that 137 bodies, including three children, had been recovered from the charred facility. It said 62 victims had been identified so far and that genetic testing was ongoing to identify the rest. Many of the more than 100 people injured in the attack were in critical condition.
The names of the men identified as the four main suspects were released as they were brought to court to face charges. A court spokesman identified them as Dalerjon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Muhammadsobir Fayzov, 19.
With Russia reeling from the worst terrorist attack in more than two decades, it was not only Ukraine that was under scrutiny. Some commentators did criticize the Russian security services for failing to prevent the tragedy, and questions remained as to whether Russia had appropriately acted on the United States’ warning of the threat of an attack.
Conspiracy theories abounded.
Tough anti-Kremlin activists speaking from abroad, was speculated that the Russian state could have orchestrated the attack in such a way as to shift the blame onto Ukraine or further tighten the screws of repression in the country.
Some lawmakers in parliament were We’re already arguing that the government must take a firm approach to immigrants. So do legislators he promissed to debate the possibility of introducing the death penalty in Russia.
Aleksei Venediktov, a Russian journalist and commentator and former editor of the influential radio station Ekho Moskvy, said that “various political forces are starting to take advantage of” the attack. “First of all, the Kremlin,” he said he said in an interview broadcast on YouTube. “But also others who claim that everything was organized by the Kremlin.”
Some nationalist activists argued that the attackers’ ultimate goal may have been confusion.
Yegor S. Kholmogorov, Russian nationalist commentator, he wrote on his blog on the Telegram messaging app that Russian society was “strongly united by the war and President Vladimir Putin’s election victory” before the attack. Now, he lamented, Russia had turned into a “divided society.”
While Russia mourned, the war in Ukraine continued.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 43 of the 57 Russian missiles and drones fired at various parts of the country overnight. The Ukrainian military said it struck two large landing craft belonging to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. There was no immediate comment from Russian military officials.
Neil MacFarquhar AND Matthew Mpoke Bigga reporting contributed.
