A Terrorist Attack in Russia

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. Tavern and this is the. [Music]. daily a terrorist attack on a concert. hall near Moscow Friday night killed. more than 100 people and injured scores. more it was the deadliest attack in. Russia in. decades today my colleague Anton trosi. on the uncomfortable question it raises.

for Russia's President Vladimir Putin. has his focus on the war in Ukraine left. his country more vulnerable to other. threats it's Monday March. [Music]. 25th so Anton tell us about this. horrific attack in Russia when did you. first hear about it so it was Friday.

night around 8:30 Moscow time that we. started seeing reports about a terrorist. attack at a concert hall just outside. Moscow I frankly wasn't sure right at. the beginning how serious this was. because we have seen quite a lot of. attacks inside Russia over the last 2. years since the full-scale invasion of. Ukraine and it was hard to make sense of. right away.

but then within a few hours it was. really looking like we were seeing the. worst terrorist attack in or around the. Russian capital in more than 20. years on Friday night croca City Hall. was the venue for a concert by a oldtime. Russian rock group called picnic it was. a soldout show thousands of people. people were expected to be there and.

before the start of the concert it. appears that four gunmen in camouflage. walked into the. venue and started. shooting we started seeing videos on. social media just incredibly awful. graphic footage of these men shooting. concert goers at Point Blank.

Range in one of the videos we see one of. them slitting the throat of one of the. concert. goers and then what appears to have. happened is that they set the concert. hall on fire Russian investigators said. they had some kind of flammable liquid. that they lit on fire and basically. tried to burn down this huge concert. hall with Wounded people in it some of. these people.

ended up trapped as the building. burned as eventually the roof of this. concert hall collapsed and it seems as. though much of the casualties actually. came as a result of the fire as opposed. to as a result of the. [Music]. shooting the actual attack it looks like. didn't take more than 15 to 30 minutes.

at which point the four men were able to. escape they got into a white Renault. sedan and fled the. [Music]. scene it took the authorities clearly a. while to arrive the attackers were able. to spread this horrific violence for as. I said at least 15 minutes or so so. among other things there's a lot of. questions being raised right now about. why the official resp bonds took so.

[Music]. long and you said the perpetrators Got. Away what happened next so it looks like. they were caught at some point hours. after the attack on Saturday morning the. Kremlin said that 11 people had been. arrested in connection to the attack.

including all four perpetrators they. were taken into custody according to the. Russian authorities in the bransk region. of Russia roughly a 5-hour drive from. the concert hall in Southwestern Russia. also pretty close to the border with. Ukraine obviously we have to take. everything that the Russian authorities. are saying with a grain of salt and as. we've been reporting on this throughout. the weekend we have very much tried to.

verify all the claims that the Russian. authorities are making independently and. so our colleagues in the visual. investigations unit of the times have. been working very hard on that and what. we can say based on the footage of the. attack that was taken by many different. individuals and posted to social media. it very much looks like the four men who. were detained who Russia says.

were the attackers in fact are the same. people who are seen doing the shooting. in those videos of the attack judging by. their clothes judging by their hairstyle. judging by their build and and other. identifying characteristics that our. colleagues have been looking at so it. does appear that by Saturday morning The. Men Who directly carried out this attack. had been taken into custody wow so the.

Russian government actually apprehended. the perpetrators according to our. reporting work that our colleagues have. done so who are these guys we don't know. much about them the Russian government. says that none of them are Russian. citizens after the arrest throughout the. weekend videos short clips of. interrogations of these men have been. popping up on the telegram social. network clearly leaked or provided by.

Russian law enforcement you see these. men blooded hurt and is this Russian. interrogators abusing them yes that is. very much what it looks like and it's. also notable that the Russian. authorities aren't even hiding it two of. the suspects in those videos are heard. speaking tajic so that's the language. spoken in Tajikistan a Central Asian. country but also in some of the.

surrounding countries including. Afghanistan at the end of the day this. is still a very much developing. situation and there's a ton that we. don't know but hours after the attack. the Islamic State Isis took. responsibility and uh they then really. tried to emphasize this by even. releasing a video on Saturday showing. the attack taking place as it was filmed. apparently by one of the attackers and. US intelligence official have told our.

colleagues in Washington that they. indeed believe this to be true that they. believe that this Isis offshoot did. carry out this attack wow so the. Americans actually think that Isis the. extremist group that we know so well. from Iraq and Syria carried out this. attack yes and all of this is really. remarkable because just a few weeks ago. on March 7th the United States actually. warned publicly that something just like.

this could happen the US Embassy in. Moscow issued a security alert urging US. citizens to avoid large Gatherings over. the next 48 hours they said that the. embassy is monitoring reports that. extremists have imminent plans to Target. large gatherings in Moscow to include. concerts crazy that is a very specific. warning absolutely and of course the the. statement mentioned that specific 48h.

hour time frame but nevertheless it. feels really significant and did the. Russian authorities respond to that they. did and frankly they responded mostly by. ridiculing it this is all obviously. happening against the backdrop of the. worst conflict between Moscow and the. West since the depths of the Cold War. and so Vladimir Putin actually publicly.

dismissed this warning he called it. blackmail in a speech that he gave just. 3 days before the attack last Tuesday so. despite the specificity publicly at. least the Russian authorities did not. take it seriously that is remarkable and. so three days later this huge attack. happens where is Putin in all of this. and who is he blaming what's his version. of events so he's coming off this.

Russian election season as you know. where he declared this very stag managed. Victory and after that had been taking a. Victory lap of sorts but Putin doesn't. appear on camera until around 19 hours. after the attack at that point Russian. State television airs a five minute. speech by. Putin.

he's sitting at this nondescript desk. surrounded by two Russian Flags but it's. not clear where he is located at that. point it doesn't look like he's at the. Kremlin and Anton what does he. say so he describes the horror of this. attack he declares Sunday a national day. of mourning he says the most important. thing is. to make sure that the people who did.

this aren't able to carry out more. violence he also says that the four men. who carried out the attack were captured. as they were moving toward Ukraine and. he claims that based on preliminary. information as he put it there were. people on the Ukrainian side who were. going to help these men cross the border. safely and remember this is an extremely.

dangerous militarized border given that. Russia and Ukraine have been in a state. of fullscale War right for over two. years. now and as he ends the speech he says. that Russia will punish the perpetrators. whoever they may be whoever may have. sent. them.

[Music]. so what's important about all that is is. first of all that Putin did not mention. the apparent Islamic extremist. connection here that Western officials. have been talking about and that is in. front of all of us given that Islamic. state has claimed responsibility for the. attack but he does set the stage for.

blaming Ukraine for this horrific. tragedy even though it seems that Putin. and the Russian government may be alone. in thinking. [Music]. that we'll be right. [Music]. back.

so Anton the Islamic state has claimed. responsibility for this attack but Putin. ignores that and kind of obliquely. points the finger at. Ukraine what do we actually know about. who did this well let's start with the. group that claimed responsibility for. this attack that's Isis the Islamic. State and in particular us officials are. talking.

about a branch of Isis called Isis K or. Islamic State corasan which is an. Islamic State affiliate that's primarily. active in. Afghanistan and that in recent years has. gained this reputation for extreme. brutality they might be best known in. the US for being the group behind the. Cabell airport bombing back in. 2021 after the Taliban took over when. thousands of Afghans were trying to. escape that was a bombing that killed 13.

American troops and 171 civilians and it. really raised Isis K's profile so this. terrorist group is mainly based in. Afghanistan what do they want with. Russia so what's notable is our. colleague Eric Schmidt in Washington. talked to an expert over the weekend who. said Isis K has really developed an. obsession with Russia and Putin over the. last two years they say Russia has. Muslim blood on its hands so it looks.

like the primary driver in this enmity. against Russia is Russia's alliance with. Bashar al-assad the Syrian president who. is also a sworn enemy of Isis and Russia. intervened of course on Assad's behalf. in the Syrian Civil War starting back in. 2015 but it's not just Syria so the. experts we've talked to say that in the. Isis K propaganda you also hear about. R's wars in the southern region of.

chetna in the 1990s and the early 2000s. and also even about the Soviet Union's. war in Afghanistan throughout the 1980s. there's this really long Arc of Russia's. and the Soviet Union's Wars in Muslim. regions that appears to be driving this. violent hatred of Russia on the part of. Isis K okay so Isis K is pointing not. only to Russia's actions in Syria but.

actually further back into Russian. history even Soviet history to its war. in cha and then to the Soviets war in. Afghanistan yet Putin in his speech. ignores the group entirely and instead. points in the direction of Ukraine is. there a chance that this attack could. have been carried out by. Ukraine well look it is true that. Ukraine has carried out attacks inside. Russia that put Russian civilians at. risk there have been several bombings.

that American officials have ascribed to. parts of the Ukrainian government. perhaps most famously there was the. bombing that killed Daria dugana uh the. daughter of a leading Russian Ultra. nationalist back in the summer of. 2022 that was a bombing that happened. just outside Moscow and of course there. have been various drone strikes by. Ukraine against things like Russian. energy infrastructure even just in the.

last few weeks but we really don't see. any evidence right now of any connection. of the Ukrainian state to this attack us. officials tell us they don't see. anything and we haven't in our own. reporting come across such a connection. either and there is of course the. context of the US has said very clearly. that they don't want to see Ukraine UK. carrying out big attacks inside Russia.

American officials have said that doing. so is. counterproductive could lead to the risk. of Greater escalation by Putin in his. war and we're in an extremely sensitive. time right now when it comes to us. support for Ukraine right the US of. course has given all these weapons tens. of billions of dollars in Aid to Ukraine. but right now $60 billion in Aid are. stuck in US Congress and you would think.

that Ukraine wouldn't want to do. anything right now that could risk that. that could risk that exactly I mean Also. let's just say I mean this was an. incredibly horrific attack and we. haven't seen anything from Ukraine and. the way they've carried themselves in. defending against Russia in this war. that would make us think they would be. capable of doing something like this. Anton just to step back for a moment I. mean it's interesting you know because. this attack it really doesn't remotely.

fit into Putin's Obsession about where. the threat is coming from in the world. to Russia right his obsession is Ukraine. and this kind of short circuits that. absolutely I mean Russia has had a real. Islamic extremism problem for decades. going back to the 1990s to those brutal. Wars against Chetan separatists that. were a big part of Putin coming to power. and developing his strongman image so.

it's really remarkable how we've arrived. at this Turning Point here for Putin. where he used to be someone who really. portrayed himself as the man keeping. Russians safe from terrorism now the. threat of terrorism coming from Islamic. extremists doesn't really fit into that. narrative that Putin has because now. Putin's narrative is all about the. threat from Ukraine and the west and. that the most important thing to do now.

for Russian national security is to win. the war against Ukraine and does a. security failure here have anything to. do with Russia actually being obsessed. with Ukraine like it's kind of taken its. Eye Off the Ball well look the Russian. domestic intelligence agency the FSB. they're the ones who are supposed to. keep the country safe from terrorism but. that has also been the agency that has. been charged with asserting control over.

the territories in Ukraine that Putin. has occupied and the FSB has been. spending all this time hunting down. dissidents of Putin right just a few. hours before the attack on Friday Russia. officially classified the so-called LGBT. movement as they put it on their list of. terrorists and extremists so terrorists. in the current Putin narrative are and. anyone who disagrees with him who.

criticizes the War and who doesn't fit. into the kremlin's conception of. so-called Traditional Values which has. become such a big Putin talking point so. the FSB has been pretty busy but not in. terms of Islamic terrorism in terms of. its own people exactly we don't know for. sure obviously how the FSB is. apportioning its resources but there's a. lot of reason to believe that as the. leadership of that organization has been. looking at Putin's priorities in Ukraine.

and in terms of cracking down on descent. domestically they could well have lost. sight of the risks of actual terrorism. inside Russia which is pretty remarkable. right Anton because you and I know and. we've spoken a lot about on the show a. big part of the reason that Putin. actually appeals is argument to Russians. is that he's the security guy you know. think what you will about him he's the. guy who's fundamentally going to keep. you safe. and here we have this attack that's.

right and so he needs to continue making. the case that he knows how to keep. Russia safe and that's why my colleagues. and I have been watching a lot of. Russian State TV this weekend and this. Isis claim of responsibility barely. comes up and when it does come up it's. often being referred to as fake news. instead Russian propaganda is already. assuming that it was Ukraine and the. West that did this we'll see if the.

Russian public buys that but if you look. at the way the last two years have gone. in Russia I think you have to draw the. conclusion that Russian propaganda is. extremely powerful and I think if this. message continues it's quite likely that. very many Russians will believe that. Ukraine and the West had something to do. with this. attack and so the worry now as we look.

ahead is that Putin could end up using. this to try to escalate his War even. further which shows us why this is such. a tenuous and perilous moment because at. the same time this attack reminds us. that Russia faces other security risks. and as Putin deepens that conflict with. the West he may be doing so at the cost. of introducing even more. instability in inside the.

country Anton thank you thank you. [Music]. Sabrina late Sunday night the four men. suspected of carrying out the concert. hall attack were arraigned in a court in. Moscow and charged with committing an. act of terrorism all four are from. Tajikistan but were worked as migrant. laborers in Russia they range in age.

from 19 to 32 and face a maximum. sentence of life in prison also on. Sunday Russian authorities said that 137. bodies had been recovered from the. charred remains of the concert hall. including those of three. [Music]. children.

we'll be right. [Music]. back here's what else you need to know. today in January I underwent major. abdominal surgery in London and at the. time it was thought that my condition. was. non-cancerous the surgery was successful. however test after the operation found. cancer had been. present in a video message on Friday.

Catherine Princess of Wales disclosed. that she'd been diagnosed with cancer. and has begun chemotherapy ending weeks. of fevered speculation about her absence. from British public life this of course. came as a huge shock and William and I. have been doing everything we can to. process and manage this. privately in her message Middleton did. not say what kind of cancer she had had. or how far it had progressed but.

emphasized that the diagnosis has. required meaningful time to process it. has taken me time to recover from major. surgery in order to start my treatment. but most importantly it has taken us. time to explain everything to George. Charlotte and Louie in a way that's. appropriate for them and to reassure. them that I'm going to be. okay today's episode was produced by. Will Reed and Michelle Banja it was.

edited by Patricia Willams contains. original music by Dan Powell and Marian. Lozano and translations by Milana mazaya. and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. special thanks to Eric Schmidt and. Valerie Hopkins our theme music is by. Jim brunberg and Ben lansberg of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina Tavern C see you.

tomorrow.