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Video shows scene of shooting at concert hall near Moscow
01:00 – Source: CNN
- More than 130 killed: ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack at a popular concert venue near Moscow Friday that left at least 133 dead and more wounded after assailants stormed the complex with guns and incendiary devices. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a “barbaric terrorist act.”
- Suspects arrested: Russian authorities said all four suspects directly involved in the attack were arrested near the border with Ukraine, along with several others, and are in custody of investigators in Moscow. Ukraine has firmly denied any connection.
- Global reaction: Leaders from around the world expressed condolences and condemned the brutal attack. The White House said ISIS “must be defeated everywhere.”
- Earlier warnings: The US had warned Moscow that ISIS militants were determined to target Russia. This month, the US embassy in Russia said it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow,” including at concerts.
Our live coverage of the Moscow concert venue shooting has moved here.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered his condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the deadly concert attack in Moscow, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday.
North Korea opposes “all sorts of terrorism and nothing can justify the heinous terrorism threatening human life,” Kim said in the KCNA report. “Our people regard the misfortune and sorrow of the friendly Russian people as their own pain.”
ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq released a graphic video on Saturday that purports to show Friday’s attack at a concert hall in suburban Moscow recorded by one of the attackers, suggesting the perpetrators had a direct link to ISIS in order to be able to send the video.
CNN has geolocated it to the concert hall and notes that its identifying metadata has been erased.
The video, which is about 90 seconds long, shows four attackers with their faces blurred and voices distorted in what appears to be the Crocus City Hall complex.
The video shows one attacker signaling to another gunman, who then walks past a door where people are hiding and opens fire on them.
Bodies and blood can be seen on the floor, with fire raging at a distance.
The video also shows one of the attackers slitting the throat of a man lying on his back.
The video ends with the four attackers walking away inside the building as smoke can be seen at a distance.
On Friday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a short statement published by Amaq.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Ukraine was behind the attack, stating the perpetrators had “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 border.”
Ukraine has vehemently denied any connection to Friday’s attack.
The Russian company Crocus International, which owns Crocus City Hall, expressed its deep condolences in a statement Sunday to the victims of the terrorist attack at the concert hall in the Moscow region Friday, which left more than 130 people dead.
The statement thanked concert-goers, partners and artists for their support and assistance.
“Special thanks to the concert hall team, who acted professionally, clearly, and heroically in a crisis situation, and thanks to this, managed to save most of the guests and employees who were in Crocus City Hall that evening,” it continued.
US Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House National Security Council said there is no evidence that Ukraine is behind the attack at a concert hall near Moscow.
“There is no, whatsoever, any evidence — and in fact, what we know to be the case is that ISIS-K is actually, by all accounts, responsible for what happened,” Harris said in an interview with ABC News. “What has happened is an act of terrorism and the number of people who’ve been killed is obviously a tragedy and we should all send our condolences to those families.”
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said:
A Friday night attack at Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue complex near Moscow, left more than 130 people killed and even more wounded after assailants stormed the venue with guns and incendiary devices. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.
Four suspects involved in the attack were detained in the Bryansk region and taken to Moscow, where they are now in the custody of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “miserable” Russian President Vladimir Putin waitedovernight before publicly addressing Russians, only to accuseUkraine of having a hand in the terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow.
Here are other headlines you should know:
- More on the attack: According to the interior ministry, “all terrorists detained in the Bryansk region are foreign citizens,” Russian state media reported. RIA Novosti published on Telegram the purported confession of one of the apprehended men. CNN cannot independently verify the RIA Novosti report or the statements made by the alleged attacker, which may have been made under duress.
- Ukraine vehemently denies any connection: Defense Intelligence of Ukraine spokesperson Andrii Yusov firmly denied his country had anything to do with the terror attack. Earlier Saturday, Putin told the Russian people that the perpetrators had “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 border.” A handful of Russian officials have suggested without evidence that Ukraine may have been involved in the attack as well.
- Global reactions: Leaders around the world — such as the French, Israeli and Turkish presidents — have expressed their condolences and condemnation of the onslaught. The United States “strongly condemns” the shooting, according to the White House and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also denounced the attack, stressing that ISIS is a significant global threat at a news conference Saturday.
- Belarus claims it thwarted suspects: Belarusian special services helped Russia prevent the “terrorists” who allegedly carried out the deadly attack from escaping across the border Friday night, the country’s ambassador in Moscow said.
- Estimated damage total: The total estimated damage to the Moscow region’s Crocus City Hall after Friday’s terror attack is between 9.5-11.4 billion rubles, or approximately $103-124 million, according to a shopping union vice president, as reported by Russian state media RIA Novosti.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “miserable” Russian President Vladimir Putin waitedovernight before publicly addressing Russians, only to accuseUkraine of having a hand in the terror attack at a concert hall near Moscow.
On Saturday, Putin told the Russian people that the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack had “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 border.”
Zelensky and several Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied Ukraine has any kind of involvement in the attack.
In his nightly address, Zelensky also said that Russians “have come to Ukraine, burn our cities – and try to blame Ukraine.”
Zelensky added that if the Russian people do “not ask any questions to their security and intelligence agencies, then Putin will try to turn such a situation to his personal advantage again.”
More background: The terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for Russia’s attack, according to a short statement published by ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq on Telegram Friday. ISIS has not provided evidence to support the claim.
Earlier this week, Putin had dismissed warnings by the US embassy that there could be terrorist attacks on large groups, telling the Federal Security Service (FSB) that the embassy warnings were “provocative” and “outright blackmail.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday that the United States “strongly condemns” the terrorist attack at a concert venue complex near Moscow that left at least 133 people dead.
She added that ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the attack without providing evidence, is a “common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere.”
Four suspects in Friday’s terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall were detained in the Bryansk region and taken to Moscow, where they are now in the custody of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.
The suspects were brought in two prisoner transport vehicles, which are still in the courtyard of the committee, a TASS correspondent reported. This indicates that the suspects are being interrogated and the investigation is ongoing, according to TASS.
In the coming days, investigators are expected to file a court motion asking for imprisonment as the chosen preventative measure. All four suspects face life imprisonment, TASS reports.
Russia postponed an international soccer friendly match against Paraguay following the terrorist attack near Moscow, the Russian Football Union (RFU) announced Saturday.
The match will be held at a later date, but not in March, due to the requirement of national team players having to return to their clubs as FIFA’s window ends on Tuesday, Dyukov said.
Earlier Saturday, the RFU postponed matches in all of the union’s competitions for the weekend due to the terrorist attacks.
Some context: Russia’s international and club teams are currently banned from playing in any FIFA or UEFA-sanctioned soccer matches due the invasion of Ukraine. However, the international team is allowed to play in friendly matches against other countries.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack near Moscow that left more than 130 people dead, stressing ISIS is a significant global threat at a press conference Saturday at El Arish International Airport in Egypt.
Guterres called for intensified international efforts to combat the terrorist organization and prevent future strikes worldwide.
“And we encourage all countries to work with each other in order to make sure that ISIS will not have the capacity to strike again anywhere else in the world. ISIS is a terrorist organization that needs to be fought with determination, with a lot of international cooperation,” he continued.
More background: The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.
Starting in November, there has been a steady stream of intelligence that ISIS-K was determined to attack in Russia, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence. It was “fairly specific,” and the US intelligence community did indeed warn Russia, one of the sources said. But it’s not clear if this is directly tied to a March 7 warning by the US embassy in Moscow, which said “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings” in the capital city.
Over the last month, Russia has thwarted several ISIS-related incidents in March alone, according to state media agency RIA Novosti.
Leaders around the world have expressed their condolences and condemnation of the terror attack that took place on the Crocus City complex near Moscow on Friday night.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on social media platform X Saturday that she “strongly condemns” Friday’s concert attack. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families during this tragic time,” she said.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent his condolences to the Russian government and denounced the attack as well. “Regardless of the origin of the suspects, terror cannot be accepted,” he said.
- French President Emmanuel Macron also said in a social media post Saturday that he “strongly condemns the terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State.” The French president expressed his “solidarity with the families of victims, the injured and the Russian people.”
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country hopes that the attack won’t become “a pretext for anyone to escalate violence and aggression” in a post on X, adding that Poland “strongly condemns the brutal attack.”
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with Israel’s Russian ambassador “to convey – on behalf of the Israeli people – my condolences to the families of the victims, to the Russian people and its leadership for the terrible loss of life,” adding that he “wished a speedy recovery to all those injured.”
- Other European leaders, including those from the United Kingdom and Germany, have also denounced the attack.
Defense Intelligence of Ukraine spokesperson Andrii Yusov firmly denied his country had anything to do with the terror attacks at a concert hall in Russia’s Moscow region.
Earlier Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Russian people that the perpetrators had “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 border.” A handful of Russian officials have suggested without evidence that Ukraine may have been involved in the attack as well.
Yusov called Putin’s comments “completely false and absurd.”
He said that Russia had disregarded warnings, such as those from the US Embassy under its “duty to warn” policy, that terrorist attacks could be possible in large crowds. Putin had told Russia’s Federal Security Service on Tuesday that warnings from the US were “provocative” and “outright blackmail.”
A new satellite image, taken by Umbra Space’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR), shows just how badly the fire that started during the terror attack on Friday night damaged the Crocus City Hall complex.
In the image, taken at 9:26 a.m. local time Saturday, a large hole that is over 150 feet wide in diameter is seen in the roof of the complex directly over where the concert venue is located.
About SAR images: They are not like normal satellite images. The SAR images are created by a satellite transmitting radar beams capable of passing through clouds, like the ones currently preventing satellites from imaging the area. Those radar beams bounce off objects on the ground and echo back to the satellite. What they bounce off of is then mapped out by the satellite, which is then translated into the image.
Anastasia Rodionova, a survivor of the Moscow region’s Crocus City Hall attack, told Reuters Saturday that the armed assailants were “gunning down everyone methodically in silence” inside the venue on Friday night.
“It is unbelievable. You understand only now that you are lucky, really lucky. I came home; my coat was just covered in blood,” she added.
Another survivor of the attack, Margarita, who did not provide her last name, told Reuters that “the gunshots were going on and on.”
“We went down to some kind of ground floor, some dark room, and I saw only ‘exit’ word shining in the darkness, and we just did not know whether to run or not. Who is there in the dark? What is there in the dark?” she said.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published on Telegram the purported confession of one of the men apprehended in connection with the attack on the Crocus City Hall complex.
In the brief video, a man with a bloodied bandaged head speaks in halting Russian. He gives his name and says he is 30 years old.
His interrogator asks him where the weapons used in the attack were dropped off, whether near Moscow or closer to the venue site. He replies, “I don’t know the city, ask my friends, they know.”
RIA also posted images of three of the alleged attackers after they were detained, images that match videos uploaded on unofficial channels earlier Saturday showing the men being apprehended in Bryansk region. No image or video of the fourth alleged attacker has been published on Russian state media.
In an accompanying commentary, RIA Novosti said the alleged attackers all speak Russian “extremely poorly,” with one of the men speaking “in Tajik through an interpreter.”
It added that one of the men said he’d been promised by an unnamed person who called himself “an assistant to the preacher” a half-million rubles (about $5,000) to carry out the attack. He later gave a different figure.
RIA Novosti said one of the alleged attackers had mentioned returning to Russia from Turkey earlier this month. The men lived together in a hostel in the north of Moscow, and two of them met only “10-12 days ago,” according to RIA. The car they drove to Crocus City Hall and then used to escape had been bought through a family connection, it reported.
CNN cannot independently verify the veracity of the RIA Novosti report or the statements made by the alleged attacker, which may have been made under duress.
The United States “strongly condemns” the Moscow concert venue shooting that has left more than 130 people dead, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Saturday.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack but did not provide evidence to support the claim.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a “barbaric terrorist act.”
Gunmen in an entertainment venue. Bodies lying on the cold concrete. Horror that such murder could strike the safety of the Moscow bubble.
These were all present in the horrific aftermath of Friday night’s savage attack outside Crocus City Hall just as they were almost 22 years ago when I was outside the Dubrovka Theatre, where Chechen gunmen took 800 hostages, and a standoff ended with a special forces raid.
While the theatre attacks of 2002 marked just one of many horrific low points in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Islamist extremism, last night showed that the brutal past has come back to haunt the Kremlin – if, indeed, it ever left.
Yet Putin faces the same sort of Islamist enemy as 2002, in a world transformed. If indeed ISIS-K – the militant group’s Afghan branch – were responsible, as their claim and advance warnings from US officials suggest, it means a new generation of extremists have Russia in their sights, following Russia’s bloody suppression of Islamism in the south.
Read the full story here.
Russian state media is reporting that, according to the interior ministry, “all terrorists detained in the Bryansk region are foreign citizens.”
Russian authorities earlier said that four people suspected of being directly involved in the attack on Crocus City were apprehended in Bryansk in southwestern Russia and were being brought to Moscow.
Belarusian special services helped Russia prevent the “terrorists” who allegedly carried out the deadly Friday night attack on a concert venue complex from escaping across the border Friday night, the country’s ambassador in Moscow said.
“Since yesterday, active interaction has been carried out through special services. The head of the State Security Committee is in direct contact with his colleague,” Ambassador Dmitry Krutoy said Saturday, according to Belarus’ official news agency BELTA.
“And in fact, the main task of last night was to prevent terrorists from escaping across our common border. This task has been completed.”
Some background: Russian authorities said the four men who allegedly carried out the attack on the Crocus City complex on Friday evening near Moscow were apprehended early Saturday in the region of Bryansk, a large region of southwest Russia which borders Ukraine and Belarus, without giving the exact location. The capital city of the region is some five hours drive from Moscow.
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