In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin lights a candle during his visit to a church of the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on March 24, during a national day of mourning.MIKHAIL METZEL/Getty Images
Russia lowered flags to half-mast on Sunday for a day of mourning and swiftly charged two suspects after gunmen killed scores of people at a concert outside Moscow in the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades.
President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning after pledging to punish all those behind the attack on Friday evening, in which 137 people were killed, including three children, and 182 were injured.
Over 100 people remained in hospital, some of them in a serious condition. Video footage showed a sombre-looking Putin lighting a candle at a church at his residence outside Moscow on Sunday evening to honour those who died.
Earlier on Sunday, people laid flowers at Crocus City Hall, the 6,200-seat concert hall outside Moscow where four armed men burst in just before Soviet-era rock group Picnic was to perform its hit “Afraid of Nothing”. The men fired their automatic weapons in short bursts at civilians who fell screaming.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Putin, who has yet to name those he thinks are responsible, has not publicly mentioned the Islamist militant group in connection with the attackers, who he said had been trying to escape to Ukraine. He said that some on “the Ukrainian side” had been prepared to spirit the gunmen across the border.
Ukraine has denied any role in the attack.
Moscow’s Basmanny district court on Sunday charged two suspects with acts of terrorism in connection with the attack, naming them as Dalerdzhon Barotovich Mirzoyev and Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, according to Moscow courts’ official Telegram channel.
It said Mirzoyev, a Tajik national, pleaded guilty to all charges and the court remanded him in pre-trial custody until May 22.
Friday’s attack was the deadliest on Russian territory since the 2004 Beslan school siege, when Islamist militants took more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children, hostage.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Russia would target those behind the deadly shooting wherever they were from and whoever they were.
He had previously spoken of the need to meet “death with death” and some lawmakers have begun to discuss whether the death penalty should be re-introduced for such crimes.
Across Moscow, billboards carried a picture of a single candle, the date of the attack and the words “We mourn”. In other cities, people laid flowers.
Countries around the world have expressed horror at the attack and sent their condolences to the Russian people.
Concert hall attack dents Putin’s tough image as he tries to use it to rally support for Ukraine war
Putin said 11 people had been detained, including the four suspected gunmen, who fled the concert hall and made their way to the Bryansk region, about 340 km (210 miles) southwest of Moscow.
“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.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said the gunmen had contacts in Ukraine and were captured near the border.
Blindfolded and with their hands cuffed behind their backs, the suspects were taken to the Moscow headquarters of the Investigative Committee on Sunday.
Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, something he called a special military operation needed to protect Russia and Russian-speakers in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Putin of seeking to divert blame for the concert hall attack by referring to Ukraine.
Islamic State, the Islamist group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack in a Telegram statement from the group’s Amaq agency. On Saturday night, Islamic State released on its Telegram channels what it said was footage of the attack.
In video footage published by Russian media and Telegram channels with close ties to the Kremlin, one of the suspects said he was offered money to carry out the attack.
“I shot people,” the suspect, his hands tied and his hair held by an interrogator, a black boot beneath his chin, said in poor and heavily accented Russian.
When asked why, he said: “For money.” The man said he had been promised half a million roubles (a little over $5,000). One was shown answering questions through a Tajik translator.
Unverified footage posted to Russian Telegram channels appeared to show one of the suspects being tortured with electric shocks in detention. Reuters could not verify its authenticity.
As Russia mourns concert hall attack, some families are wondering if their loved ones are alive
The White House said the U.S. government shared information with Russia early this month about a planned attack in Moscow, and issued a public advisory to Americans in Russia on March 7. It said Islamic State bore sole responsibility for the attack.
“There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.
Russian officials have bristled at the U.S. public comments on the attack, the first of which were made shortly after news of the attack had broken, and say Russian investigators must be allowed to make their own findings.
The United States and other Western countries whose relations with Moscow have been fraught over the Ukraine war have also sent messages of condolence to the Russian people.