The deadliest attack Russia has seen in decades struck Moscow on March 22 when 4 armed assailants broke into Krasnogorsk’s Crocus City Hall, a shopping and entertainment complex, chaos broke out as people sought to escape the gunshots and fires that the terrorists had started.
On the night of the incident, the rock band Picnic was scheduled to hold a concert in the venue, with an estimated 6,500 tickets reportedly sold for the event. By the time of the attack, many were already in the auditorium or the hallways of the location.
As of March 30, 144 deaths were reported, with another 80 recovering in hospitals and an additional 250 having sought medical treatment following the attack.
On the same day of the incident, the Islamic State claimed responsibility via a message sent through the Telegram platform. However, United States officials have specifically attributed the strike to ISIS-K, a branch of the larger group. The group has been known to have carried out similar attacks in both Afghanistan and Iran.
Nonetheless, Russian state and media have sought to largely ignore the group’s claim, suggesting that Ukraine, instead, was responsible for the attack. Russian investigators claimed that they found proof that linked the gunmen to “Ukrainian nationalists,” something that both U.S. and Ukrainian officials have denied.
In his statement following the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin also suggested that Ukraine had facilitated the escape of the attackers across the border, something that U.S. officials deemed as merely baseless propaganda.
Some have utilized the tragic event as a basis to question the efficacy of Russia’s security services, highlighting that its definition of “extremist groups” has widened in recent years, including groups ranging from Kremlin critics to even Jehovah’s Witnesses and LGBTQ activists. The Central Intelligence Agency A was also reported to have issued a warning of impending terrorist attacks in large-scale events that Russian intelligence services dismissed.
In the days after the attack, several suspects, all of Tajik origin, were arrested. Four of these suspects showed up to trial showing clear signs of torture, having bandages and bruises on their faces and bodies.
Following the event, Russia has seen an upsurge in xenophobic attitudes toward Central Asian migrants. Central Asian migrants make up a substantial portion of the Russian workforce and face significant prejudice in their everyday lives. The incident has already had a severe impact on the treatment of such refugees, with reports of aggression and vandalism targeted at them rapidly growing.
In response to the situation, President Putin addressed the nation, emphasizing the importance of unity in Russian society. He stated: “We must never forget that we are a multinational, multi-religious country. We must always treat our brothers, representatives of other faiths with respect, as we always do — Muslims, Jews, everyone.”
Photo courtesy of Baudouin Wisselmann on Unsplash