Condolences flow in after Russia concert hall attack

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said that officials from Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and the United Kingdom had offered their condolences to Russian officials regarding the Crocus Concert Hall that killed more than 130 people near Moscow on Friday.

Russian state media outlet TASS reported on Monday that Russian authorities had apprehended 11 individuals in connection with the attack and that a Moscow court had sanctioned the arrests of seven of those alleged attackers.

ISIS has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack just hours after it took place, although Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday said that Western “spin doctors” had “driven themselves into a trap” by claiming ISIS was responsible for the attack.

What has the United States said about the attack? The U.S. Department of State issued a brief statement on Saturday condemning the “terrorist attack.” But in its 2022 country terrorism report for Russia, the State Department accused the Kremlin of using the threat of extremist attacks to suppress political opposition.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow, roughly two weeks before the attack, warned U.S. citizens to avoid large public gatherings—“to include concerts”—for 48 hours. It said it had been monitoring reports that extremists were planning to attack public gatherings.

What has Ukraine said about the attack? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the day after the attack said that Putin would try to link the attack to Ukraine. On Monday, Zelenskyy called Russian forces “terrorists” for attacking residential areas of Kyiv with ballistic missiles in a barrage that injured five people.

Dig deeper: Read Mark Tooley’s column in WORLD Opinions that explains how Russia is not the New Jerusalem.