Moscow terror suspect reveals mysterious mastermind

According to RT on March 29, the Russian Investigative Committee said that in their initial statements and in subsequent interrogations, the suspects said they had prepared the attacks and coordinated with a man using a pseudonym. This person contacted the suspects via voice messages sent via Telegram.

“On the instructions of the coordinator, after committing the crime, the terrorists drove the car towards the Russian-Ukrainian border to cross the border and go to Kiev to receive the promised reward,” the Russian Investigative Committee said.

Russian special forces intercepted four suspects on March 23 as they were heading toward the Ukrainian border. Russia identified them as Tajik citizens and radical Islamists.

The terrorist group Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the massacre. The United States and the European Union have said that ISIS-K was the sole perpetrator and that Ukraine had no involvement. Ukraine has also denied involvement, but Russia remains skeptical.

On March 28, the Russian Investigative Committee revealed that the four suspects received a significant sum of money in cryptocurrency, which the committee said was then used to prepare for the Crocus City Hall attack.

The terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall has left 144 people dead and the death toll could rise. Health officials say 182 people were injured.

Russian authorities have detained 11 suspects, including four who were directly involved in the attack, who were arrested by security forces in Bryansk province on March 23. They are all Tajik citizens. The court has charged the four with terrorism. The maximum penalty for this crime is life imprisonment. Following the horrific attack, many Russian officials have called for the reintroduction of the death penalty.

A month before the attack, one of the accused terrorists, Shamsidin Fariduni, posted a photo of himself on social media, indicating his location in Istanbul, Türkiye, according to sources. Fariduni posted eight photos, one of which was allegedly taken at a mosque. In another photo, Fariduni is seen wearing a beige jacket, which was identified by a security guard at Crocus City Hall when he came to inquire about the concert hall a few days before the attack, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Meanwhile, a source in the security forces said that all four terrorists had been trained at one of the hideouts in Türkiye, specifically in Istanbul, for about two months.

Recently, on March 29, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed that it had arrested three foreign suspects who were plotting to commit a terrorist act by detonating a device in a public area in the Stavropol Region.