Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the gunmen who killed 139 people at a suburban Moscow are 91裸聊视频渞adical Islamists,91裸聊视频� but he repeated his accusation that Ukraine could have played a role despite its strong denials.
Speaking in a meeting with government officials, Putin said the killings were carried out by extremists 91裸聊视频渨hose ideology the Islamic world has been fighting for centuries.91裸聊视频�
Putin, who declared over the weekend that the four attackers were arrested while trying to escape to Ukraine, said investigators haven91裸聊视频檛 determined who ordered the attack, but that it was necessary to find out 91裸聊视频渨hy the terrorists after committing their crime tried to flee to Ukraine and who was waiting for them there.91裸聊视频�
The Islamic State group91裸聊视频檚 Afghanistan affiliate claimed it carried out the attack, and U.S. intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron said France has intelligence pointing to 91裸聊视频渁n IS entity91裸聊视频� as responsible for the attack.
91裸聊视频淲e are seeing that the U.S., through various channels, is trying to convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to their intelligence, there is allegedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terror attack 91裸聊视频� that the bloody terrorist act was committed by followers of Islam, members of the Islamic State group,91裸聊视频� Putin said during a meeting with top law enforcement officials.
He added that 91裸聊视频渢hose who support the Kyiv regime don91裸聊视频檛 want to be accomplices in terror and sponsors of terrorism, but many questions remain.91裸聊视频�
Putin went on to declare that Ukraine has sought to deflect attention from its battlefield setbacks by waging cross-border attacks on various Russian regions, adding that a 91裸聊视频渂loody intimidation acts like the Moscow terror attack look like a logical part of this chain.91裸聊视频�
The attack Friday night at the Crocus City Hall music venue on the western outskirts of Moscow left 139 people dead and more than 180 injured, proving to be the deadliest in Russia in years. About 100 people remained hospitalized, officials said.
Putin warned that more attacks could follow, alleging possible Western involvement. He didn91裸聊视频檛 mention the warning about an imminent terror attacks that the U.S. confidentially shared with Moscow two weeks before the raid or the public. Three days before the attack, Putin denounced the March 7 U.S. Embassy notice urging Americans to avoid crowds in Moscow, including concerts, as an attempt to frighten Russians and 91裸聊视频渂lackmail91裸聊视频� the Kremlin ahead of the presidential election.
The four suspected attackers, all of them nationals of Tajikistan, were remanded by a Moscow court Sunday night with carrying out the attack and ordered to remain in custody pending official probe.
Russian media reported that the four were tortured while being interrogated, and they showed signs of being severely beaten during their court appearance. Russian officials said all four pleaded guilty to the charges, which carry life punishment, but their condition raised questions about whether their statements might have been coerced.
Russian authorities reported that seven other suspects have been detained, and three of them were remanded by the court Monday on charges of being involved in the attack.
As they mowed down concertgoers with gunfire, the attackers set fire to the vast concert hall, and the resulting blaze caused the roof to collapse.
The search operation will continue until at least Tuesday afternoon, officials said. A Russian Orthodox priest conducted a service at the site Monday, blessing a makeshift memorial with incense.
Russian officials and lawmakers have urged a severe punishment for all those involved in the attack, and some called for the restoration of capital punishment outlawed since 1997.
During Sunday91裸聊视频檚 court hearing, three of the suspects showed signs of heavy bruising, including swollen faces. One of them was in a wheelchair in a hospital gown, accompanied by medical personnel, and sat with his eyes closed throughout. He appeared to have multiple cuts.
Another had a plastic bag still hanging over his neck and a third man had a heavily bandaged ear. Russian media reported Saturday that one suspect had his ear cut off during interrogation. The Associated Press couldn91裸聊视频檛 verify the report or videos purporting to show this.
Dmitry Medvedev, who was Russia91裸聊视频檚 president from 2008-12 and now serves as deputy head of Security Council chaired by Putin, urged to 91裸聊视频渒ill everyone involved. Everyone. Those who paid, those who sympathized, those who helped. Kill them all.91裸聊视频�
Margarita Simonyan, head of the state-funded television channel RT, argued that even the death penalty 91裸聊视频� currently banned in Russia 91裸聊视频� would be 91裸聊视频渢oo easy91裸聊视频� a punishment.
Instead, she said they should face 91裸聊视频渓ifelong hard labor somewhere underground, living there too, without the opportunity to ever see light, on bread and water, with a ban on conversations and with a not very humane escort.91裸聊视频�
Russian human rights advocates condemned the violence against the men.
Team Against Torture, a prominent group that advocates against police brutality, said in a statement that the culprits must face stern punishment, but 91裸聊视频渟avagery should not be the answer to savagery.91裸聊视频�
It said the value of any testimony obtained by torture was 91裸聊视频渃ritically low,91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频渋f the government allows for torture of terrorism suspects, it may allow unlawful violence toward other citizens, too.91裸聊视频�
Net Freedoms, another Russian group that focuses on freedom of speech cases, said Medvedev91裸聊视频檚 remarks, as well as Putin91裸聊视频檚 recent call on security services to 91裸聊视频減unish traitors without a statute of limitation no matter where they are,91裸聊视频� made against the backdrop of 91裸聊视频渄emonstrative torture of the detained 91裸聊视频� effectively authorize extrajudicial killings and give instructions to security forces on how to treat enemies.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e seeing the possible beginning of the new Great Terror,91裸聊视频� Net Freedoms said, referring to mass repressions by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. The group foresees more police brutality against suspects in terrorist-related cases and a spike in violent crimes against migrants.
Abuse of suspects by law enforcement and security services isn91裸聊视频檛 new, said Sergei Davidis of the Memorial human rights group.
91裸聊视频淲e know about torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war, we know about mass torture of those charged with terrorism, high treason and other crimes, especially those investigated by the Federal Security Service. Here, it was for the first time made public,91裸聊视频� Davidis said.
Parading beaten suspects could reflect a desire by authorities to show a muscular response to try to defuse any criticism of their inability to prevent the attack, he said.
The concert hall attack was a major embarrassment for Putin and came less than a week after he cemented his grip on Russia for another six years in a vote that followed the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times.
Many on Russian social media questioned how authorities and their vast security apparatus that actively surveils, pressures and prosecutes critics failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warning.
Citing the treatment of the suspects, Davidis told AP that 91裸聊视频渨e can suppose it was deliberately made public in order to show the severity of response of the state.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淧eople are not satisfied with this situation when such a huge number of law enforcement officers didn91裸聊视频檛 manage to prevent such an attack, and they demonstrate the severe reaction in order to stop these accusations against them,91裸聊视频� he said.
The fact that the security forces did not conceal their methods was 91裸聊视频渁 bad sign,91裸聊视频� he said.
IS, which fought Russian forces that intervened in the Syrian civil war, has long targeted the country. In a statement posted by the group91裸聊视频檚 Aamaq news agency, the IS Afghanistan affiliate said it carried out an attack in Krasnogorsk, the suburb of Moscow where the concert hall is located.
In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people aboard, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt.
The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Russia91裸聊视频檚 volatile Caucasus and other regions in past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
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