Russia’s Putin says ‘radical Islamists’ behind Moscow concert hall attack

Russian leader also suggests Ukraine is somehow involved in the attack without providing any evidence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says for the first time that “radical Islamists” were behind last week’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow but suggests Ukraine was also somehow involved.

Eleven people have been detained in connection with Friday’s attack, which saw camouflaged gunmen storm into Crocus City Hall, open fire on concert-goers and set the building ablaze, killing at least 137 people.

“We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said in a televised meeting on Monday.

“This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime,” he said, referring to Ukraine.

“Of course, it is necessary to answer the question, ‘Why after committing the crime the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine?’ Who was waiting for them there?” Putin asked.