Russia casts doubt on Islamic State's responsibility in attack

Russia contested, on Monday (25), claims that the Islamic State group orchestrated the gun attack on a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow that killed 137 people and injured 182 others.

In Russia's deadliest attack in two decades, four men stormed the Crocus Town Hall on Friday night, shooting at people during a concert by Soviet-era rock group Picnic.

Four men, at least one Tajik, were detained in custody and were charged with terrorism. They appeared in court separately, taken to a cell in Moscow's Basmanny district court by officers of the Federal Security Service.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim the United States has publicly said it believes, and the group has since released what it says are images of the attack.

U.S. officials said they alerted Russia to intelligence of an imminent attack earlier this month.

President Vladimir Putin did not publicly mention the Islamist group in connection with the attackers, who he said were trying to flee to Ukraine.

Putin said some people on the “Ukrainian side” were prepared to take the armed men across the border.

Ukraine has denied any role in the attack and President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Putin of trying to deflect blame for the attack by mentioning Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned US claims that the Islamic State, which once sought to control areas of Iraq and Syria, was behind the attack.

In an article for the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, she said the United States was evoking the “bogeyman” of the Islamic State to cover its “neighborhoods” in Kiev, and reminded readers that Washington supported the “mujahideen” fighters who fought against the Soviet forces in Kiev in the 1980s.

Two U.S. officials said Friday that the United States had intelligence that confirmed the Islamic State's claim of responsibility.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that Russia could not comment on the Islamic State claim while the investigation was ongoing and would not comment on US intelligence, saying it was sensitive information.

Suspect video

Putin said 11 people were detained, including the four suspected gunmen who he said fled the concert hall and headed to the Bryansk region, about 210 miles southwest of Moscow, to cross the border into Ukraine.

Unverified videos of the suspects' interrogations circulated on social media. One of the suspects was shown having part of his ear cut off and stuffed into his mouth.

One man, a Tajik named Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, leaned against the glass cage as the terrorism charge was read. Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, with his ear bandaged, remained seated.

Muhammadsobir Fayzov appeared in open hospital gowns and sat in a medical chair, his face covered in cuts. Shamsiddin Fariduni, his face bruised, stood up.

The Kremlin's Peskov left unanswered a journalist's question about the treatment of detainees.

Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a major European war after eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces on one side and pro-Russian Ukrainians and Russian proxies on the other.

The US and its European allies supported Ukraine, providing billions of dollars in cash, weapons and intelligence in an attempt to defeat Russian forces.

The French government said on Sunday night it was raising its terrorism alert to the highest level following the Moscow shootings.