Russian president Vladimir Putin, who was reelected last weekend, accused Ukraine of being tied to the Moscow terror attack on Friday that killed at least 133 people and injured more than 100 others.
In a five-minute televised address released Saturday, Putin told Russian citizens that four suspects who directly participated in the shooting on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall were detained near the country’s border with Ukraine. The Russian leader asserted they tried escaping to Ukraine, which was allegedly preparing to receive them after the attack.
“All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed people, were found and detained. They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them on the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,” Putin said, noting eleven people had been detained in total.
Earlier Saturday, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak denied any connection to the terror attack and called such allegations “absolutely untenable.”
“Ukraine has not the slightest connection to this incident,” Podolyak said. “Ukraine has a full-scale war with Russia and will solve the problem of Russia’s aggression on the battlefield.”
Neither Putin nor the Russian Federal Security Service provided any evidence to substantiate Ukraine’s connection to the attack.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting Friday night, and reiterated on Saturday that four of its militants carried out the attack. However, Putin did not directly address the Islamic terror group in his message to the Russian people, vowing to punish the terrorists responsible as more information comes in.
“The Federal Security Service of Russia and other law enforcement agencies are working to identify and uncover the entire accomplice base of terrorists: those who provided them with transport, outlined escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches, caches of weapons and ammunition,” Putin said.
The four suspected gunmen were armed with machine guns, a pistol, knives, and firebombs, according to ISIS. The explosives reportedly caused the roof of the Moscow concert hall to collapse.
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs said the four gunmen who were detained are all foreign citizens, Reuters reported Saturday.
In the video, Putin declared Sunday a national day of mourning for the lives lost. Flowers and toys have been laid as a tribute to the victims at Crocus City Hall and outside Russian embassies around the world.
Despite increasing tensions amid the Russia-Ukraine war, Western leaders largely condemned the terrorist attack. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk are among those in the international community to express their condolences to Russia and condemnation of the attack. So far, President Joe Biden is notably absent from that list.
The attack came more than two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Moscow warned against attending crowded public events due to the threat of terrorism, a notice followed by embassies of several other countries.
“The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the embassy said in a statement on March 7.