Putin says Islamists carried out concert attack, implies Ukraine had a role
Putin acknowledged on Monday that last week's deadly attack at a concert outside Moscow was carried out by Islamic militants, but suggested it was also to the benefit of Ukraine and that Kyiv may have played a role.
Putin's remarks, to a Kremlin meeting devoted to measures taken in response to the attack, were delivered as France joined the U.S. in saying intelligence indicated Islamic State was responsible.
In the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, four men burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, spraying bullets during a concert by the Soviet-era rock group Picnic.
Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee, told the Kremlin meeting the death toll had risen to 139, with 182 people wounded.
Four men of Tajik origin were remanded in custody on terrorism charges at Moscow's Basmanny district court on suspicion of carrying out the attack. Three others, also of Tajik origin, were remanded in custody on suspicion of complicity.
Islamic State has said it was responsible for the attack and has released what it says is footage from the massacre.
'WHO BENEFITS?'
«We know that the crime was carried out by the hand of radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has fought for centuries,» Putin said in remarks posted on the Telegram messaging app.
He did not directly mention Islamic State, and repeated his previous assertion that the assailants had been trying to flee to Ukraine, saying there were «many
