Concert Hall attacked in what Russia is calling a "Terrorist" attack , 40 Dead 100 wounded, building on Fire

At least 40 people were killed and over 100 others were injured in a shooting and explosion at Moscow's Crocus City Hall -- one of the biggest shopping and entertainment complexes in Russia -- on Friday evening, according to the Russian Foreign Security Service.

Russia's foreign ministry called the shooting and explosion a "terrorist attack."

More than 70 ambulance teams were sent to the sight of the attack, the governor of the Moscow region reported.

Most of the building is engulfed in fire and the roof partially collapsed, Russian news agency Interfax reported. The attack was carried out by a group of up to five unknown people.

Several gunmen burst into the concert hall and opened fire with automatic weapons, state news outlet RIA Novosti reported.

Attackers then threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, starting a fire in the hall, according to Russian state media.


Smoke rises above the Crocus City Hall concert venue following a reported shooting incident, on the outskirts of Moscow, March 22, 2024.© Stringer/Reuters
In Podolsk, near Moscow, public events were canceled due to the incident at Crocus City Hall, the head of the district said. The mayor of Moscow also cancelled all "sports, cultural and other mass events," in Moscow for the weekend.

The White House is aware of the incident in Moscow but has limited information as of now, according to National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby.


"The images are just horrible. And just hard to watch, and our thoughts, obviously, are going to be with the - the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack," Kirby said.

Kirby also reiterated the State Department's warning that all Americans in Moscow should avoid large gatherings, saying "they should stay put where they are, and stay plugged into the State Department for any additional updates and information."

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow had issued a warning on March 7, advising U.S. citizens to avoid large gatherings for 48 hours, saying extremists have "imminent plans" to target large scale gatherings in Moscow.

Gunmen in combat fatigues fire on crowds at a Moscow concert hall which is now ablaze​

MOSCOW — Several gunmen burst into a big concert hall in Moscow on Friday and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and starting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide.



Russian news reports said the assailants threw explosives, triggering a massive blaze at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow. Video posted on social media showed huge plumes of black smoke rising over the building.

The attack took place as crowds gathered for a concert of Picnic, a famed Russian rock band, at the hall that can accommodate over 6,000 people. Russian news reports said that visitors were being evacuated, but some said an unspecified number of people could have been trapped by the blaze.

Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency reported that at least three people in combat fatigues fired weapons. The state Tass news agency also reported the shooting.

Extended rounds of gunfire could be heard on multiple videos posted by Russian media and Telegram channels. One showed two men with rifles moving through the mall. Another one showed a man inside the auditorium, saying the assailants set it on fire, as gunshots rang out incessantly in the background.


More videos showed up to four attackers, armed with assault rifles and wearing caps, who were shooting screaming people at point-blank range.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said he was heading to the area and set up a task force to deal with the damage. He didn’t immediately offer any further details.

Russian media reports said riot police units were being sent to the area as people were being evacuated.

The attack followed a statement issued earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that urged Americans to avoid crowded places in the Russian capital in view of an imminent attack, a warning that was repeated by several other Western embassies.

Putin, who extended his grip on Russia for another six years in the March 15-17 presidential vote after a sweeping crackdown on dissent, earlier this week denounced the Western warnings as an attempt to intimidate Russians.

It is not yet clear who might be behind the attack.

Polds4OSU said:

Gunmen in combat fatigues fire on crowds at a Moscow concert hall which is now ablaze​

MOSCOW — Several gunmen burst into a big concert hall in Moscow on Friday and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and starting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide.



Russian news reports said the assailants threw explosives, triggering a massive blaze at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow. Video posted on social media showed huge plumes of black smoke rising over the building.

The attack took place as crowds gathered for a concert of Picnic, a famed Russian rock band, at the hall that can accommodate over 6,000 people. Russian news reports said that visitors were being evacuated, but some said an unspecified number of people could have been trapped by the blaze.

Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency reported that at least three people in combat fatigues fired weapons. The state Tass news agency also reported the shooting.

Extended rounds of gunfire could be heard on multiple videos posted by Russian media and Telegram channels. One showed two men with rifles moving through the mall. Another one showed a man inside the auditorium, saying the assailants set it on fire, as gunshots rang out incessantly in the background.


More videos showed up to four attackers, armed with assault rifles and wearing caps, who were shooting screaming people at point-blank range.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said he was heading to the area and set up a task force to deal with the damage. He didn’t immediately offer any further details.

Russian media reports said riot police units were being sent to the area as people were being evacuated.

The attack followed a statement issued earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that urged Americans to avoid crowded places in the Russian capital in view of an imminent attack, a warning that was repeated by several other Western embassies.

Putin, who extended his grip on Russia for another six years in the March 15-17 presidential vote after a sweeping crackdown on dissent, earlier this week denounced the Western warnings as an attempt to intimidate Russians.

It is not yet clear who might be behind the attack.

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They will blame it on the LGBT. They added them to the Terrorist list today so this was all staged and they can say see told you so. It would be on par for Putin and I’m sure WhataboutBob will buy it.

Vakarian74 said:

They will blame it on the LGBT. They added them to the Terrorist list today so this was all staged and they can say see told you so. It would be on par for Putin and I’m sure WhataboutBob will buy it.

Click to expand...

Nope
Wasn't expecting this

Vakarian74 said:

They will blame it on the LGBT. They added them to the Terrorist list today so this was all staged and they can say see told you so. It would be on par for Putin and I’m sure WhataboutBob will buy it.

Click to expand...

Who said that? Alex Jones? Just a matter of time before an attack like that happens in the U. S., possibly before the Nov. election.

Polds4OSU said:

Nope
Wasn't expecting this

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So it was the LGBT branch of ISIS?

Russia is now trying to blame ISIS on Ukraine claiming they caught the terrorist trying to escape toward the Ukraine border..Moscow is 300+ miles from the Ukraine border

How long before the US extreme right blames Ukraine for allowing ISIS to use their territory to launch this attack and then start saying if you support Ukraine you support ISIS and fanatical Islamic extremist??

I bet less than 1 week

Polds4OSU said:

How long before the US extreme right blames Ukraine for allowing ISIS to use their territory to launch this attack and then start saying if you support Ukraine you support ISIS and fanatical Islamic extremist??

I bet less than 1 week

Click to expand...

C. I.A.

Polds4OSU said:

How long before the US extreme right blames Ukraine for allowing ISIS to use their territory to launch this attack and then start saying if you support Ukraine you support ISIS and fanatical Islamic extremist??

I bet less than 1 week

Click to expand...

GOGETUMPOKE said:

C. I.A.

Click to expand...

Approximately 5 hours.

GGP says “Hold my beer and watch this.”

Russia is in an interesting propaganda situation. They’ve downplayed ISIS responsibility while pumping up the possibility the terrorist were assisted by Ukraine. Not fully acknowledging ISIS could open them up to further attacks.

Moscow attack suspects appear severely beaten as they're charged in Russian court​

Four suspects accused of killing more than 130 people in a terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall appeared heavily beaten as they were charged by a court in the Russian capital Sunday.

Photos and videos released by the court showed the four men being led into the courtroom with various levels of injuries. Three of the men had visible bruises and swelling on their faces, including one with heavy bandaging around his right ear. The fourth seemed barely conscious as he sat inside the prisoner’s box dressed in a hospital gown and on a stretcher, with his eyes closed for most of the hearing.


It came after images showing the suspects’ violent treatment in custody were shared widely across Russian social media, and as President Vladimir Putin vowed revenge but made no mention of the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

The Basmanny District Court of Moscow named the suspects as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Mukhammadsobir Faizov. Two of the four had admitted their guilt, the court said, although their condition raised questions about whether they were able to speak freely.

All four were charged with committing a terror act, according to the court, and could face up to life imprisonment. The suspects were ordered detained until May 22 by the court. Seven more people were detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack.




Four men suspected of carrying out a terror attach at Crocus City Hall, await charges in a Moscow court on March 22, 2024. (AP; AFP via Getty Images)© Provided by NBC News

All four are citizens of ex-Soviet state Tajikistan, Tass state news agency reported. The suspects had to use a translator to communicate in court, according to Tass.

NBC News analyzed footage shared over the weekend by Russian pro-war Telegram channels that showed at least one of the suspects being tortured, and others violently interrogated and injured. NBC News was able to authenticate the footage by comparing it with images of the suspects as they appeared in court on Sunday.


In one video, suspect Saidakrami Rachabalizoda lies on the ground in the woods while a man hacks at Rachabalizoda’s ear with a knife, before stuffing what looks like part of the ear into Rachabalizoda’s own mouth. Videos also show suspect Shamsidin Fariduni being interrogated on the ground in the woods as a man holds Fariduni’s head up by his hair. In a subsequent image, Fariduni drools on the floor of a sports hall with his pants and underwear around his knees while a man stands on his leg, a black box at his side.

The men are accused of perpetrating the worst terror attack Russia has seen in the last 20 years, killing at least 137 people and leaving dozens injured. Videos from inside the Crocus City Hall on Friday night showed several armed and camouflaged men shooting at people inside the venue, seemingly at random. The venue also caught on fire after an alleged explosion, leading the roof to cave in.




The detention hearing for the four suspects came as Russia marked a national day of mourning Sunday, and people continued to bring flowers to the burned-out site of the attack.

Putin claimed Ukraine’s involvement in preparing an escape route for the suspects before they were captured, an accusation Kyiv has vehemently denied and said was being used to distract from his own security failings and raise support for intensifying his military campaign.



The attack Friday on Crocus City Hall, a sprawling mall and concert venue on Moscow's western edge, also left many wounded and left the building a smoldering ruin. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)© Investigative Committee of Russia via AP

In a sign of the febrile mood among Russian officials and beyond, a leading Kremlin propagandist offered an approving nod to the signs of torture and others called for the perpetrators to face the most severe punishment, with some even reviving calls to bring back the death penalty.


“I never expected this from myself, but when I see how they are brought into the court crooked, and even this ear, I feel extremely satisfied,” the head of the Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, said on Telegram, next to the images of the four suspects from the court.

Meanwhile, former president and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, called Monday for the perpetrators and everyone involved in facilitating the attack to be killed. “Who paid, who sympathized, who helped. Kill them all,” he said in a post on Telegram.

Putin himself indicated in his address to the nation Saturday, nearly a day after the attack, that there would be no mercy for those behind what he called the “bloody massacre.”

“Terrorists, murderers, non-humans who do not and cannot have a nationality face one unenviable fate — retribution and oblivion,” said Putin, who less than a week ago was jubilantly celebrating his choreographed landslide election win.




At least 137 people, including three children, were killed when camouflaged gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall, in Moscow's northern suburb of Krasnogorsk, and then set fire to the building on March 22 evening. (Olga Maltseva / AFP - Getty Images)© Olga Maltseva

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment Monday when asked about the signs of violence on the suspects’ faces during their court appearance and the videos of alleged torture circulating online.

The Russian defense ministry said Monday that border servicemen who helped detain the four suspects in the Bryansk region, near the borders with both Ukraine and Belarus, received state awards for their bravery.

Putin Suggests Kyiv 'Ordered' ISIS to Commit Moscow Terror Attack​

Link

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Belarus dictator destroys Putin's claim Ukraine was behind ISIS attack​

Belarus' strongman dictator Alexander Lukashenko has seemingly undermined Russia 's claims that Ukraine was behind the deadly Moscow massacre, after revealing the four terrorists tried fleeing to Belarus, not Ukraine.

He said: 'There was no way they could enter Belarus. They saw that. That's why they turned away and went to the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border.' While terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre several times, Russia has not fully acknowledged this and officials have chosen to blame Ukraine and the West for the attack.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB, insisted the West and Ukraine were behind the attack, despite also saying that Russian investigators hadn't yet established who had ordered the attack. He told Russian news agencies: 'The USA, Britain and Ukraine are behind the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall.'

Ukraine Is Now 'Holy War,' Russian Church Declares​

he Russian Orthodox Church has approved a document that deems President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine a "Holy War."

The declaration came during a congress of the World Russian People's Council in which religious, political and cultural figures in the country met at the site of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a focal point for the Orthodox faith in Russia.


The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, also heads the council and is an ally of Putin. He has been criticized for providing a religious justification for the war and failing to unequivocally condemn the killing of people in Ukraine.

In February 2022, Patriarch Kirill said that Ukraine and Belarus were part of "Russian lands" and called the Ukrainians who were defending themselves against Russian aggression as "forces of evil," pitching the war as a battle for the future of Christianity.

"From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people, are defending the single spiritual space of Holy Russia," the document released on Wednesday said under the heading "special military operation," which is the official Kremlin term for the invasion.

It went on to claim that the war had the goal of "protecting the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism."


Following the war, "the entire territory of modern Ukraine should enter the zone of Russia's exclusive influence," it said.

"The possibility of the existence of a Russophobic political regime hostile to Russia and its people on this territory, as well as a political regime controlled from an external center hostile to Russia, should be completely excluded," it added.

Orthodox church representatives globally, such as the U.S.-based Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC), have condemned the war. After the start of Putin's invasion on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the UOC for comment.

This month, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, told Newsweek that where Russia has arrived in Ukraine, "they exterminate all other religions besides the well-controlled and weaponized Russian Orthodox Church."


"For Russian occupiers, the weaponization of religion is something new, is a neologism," Shevchuk said. "It is why the Ukrainian government and Ukraine's religious society is forced to find different ways to protect ourselves from the weaponization of religion."

The church he heads has full communion with the Vatican and is the second largest in the Catholic faith after the Latin Church. He visited Washington, D.C., this month to describe to U.S. lawmakers, who are weighing the provision of further aid to Kyiv, the extent of destruction of religious buildings caused by the war.

The Kyiv-based Institute for Religious Freedom said in February 2023 that the Russian military had destroyed, damaged or looted at least 494 religious buildings, with the figure estimated to be far higher today.

"That is also a challenge for my church, not to become militant," Shevchuk said, adding that the aim is "not to fall to the same temptation the Russian Orthodox Church fell into and become an instrument of hatred."