Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at an expanded meeting of the board of the Interior Ministry, said that Russian law enforcers will find all the customers of the terrorist attack in “Crocus”.
“There is no reliable agency in this (terrorist. – Editor’s note) environment. They do anything for money: they are not guided by any religious or political considerations, but only financial ones. Everything is also easy to sell: any information is bought and sold, so we will definitely get to the end customers,” Vladimir Putin emphasised.
According to the Russian leader, the main goal of the terrorists and their customers was to sow panic and hatred in society, to split the multi-ethnic country from within.
“It is unacceptable, I want to emphasise this, to use the recent tragic events to provoke national discord, xenophobia, Islamophobia and so on,” the president stressed.
The head of state also noted that the priorities in the work of the Russian Interior Ministry should be the fight against extremism and illegal migration, as well as the protection of public order.
The shooting and fire occurred in the evening of 22 March before a concert at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. On 24 March, the Basmanny court of Moscow sent four defendants in the case into custody. All of them are charged with committing a terrorist act resulting in death as part of an organised group (paragraph “b” of part 3 of article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). They face life imprisonment.