First Interrogation of Moscow Terrorist Attack Suspect
Russia’s FSB security service has reported that it has detained four people in relation to the incident
Our editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan has posted a video clip of the interrogation of one of the suspected terrorists behind Friday’s shooting spree at Crocus City concert hall near Moscow. Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s FSB security service confirmed that eleven suspects, including four of the alleged perpetrators, had been detained in Bryansk Region, not far from the Ukrainian border.
The footage shows a bearded man lying on the ground and describing in broken Russian how he’d been paid to commit the terrorist attack.
The man says that before committing Friday’s atrocity, he had been to Türkiye. When asked what he did at the Crocus City concert venue on Friday evening, he replied: “I shot down… people.” The suspect added that he had committed the crime “for money,” detailing that he had been promised 500,000 rubles ($5,418).
The alleged perpetrator claimed that half the sum had already been transferred to his debit card.
The man also said that the curators, whom he supposedly does not know personally, had contacted him via Telegram messaging app, and arranged an arms cache for the assailants.
According to the suspect, he had been “listening to sermons… by a preacher” on Telegram for some time before being approached by the supposed masterminds of Friday’s attack “around a month ago.”
Shortly after publishing the first video clip, Simonyan posted more footage, in this instance depicting another suspected terrorist speaking through an interpreter.
After gunning down dozens of fleeing patrons, the assailants then set fire to rows of chairs inside the hall. The blaze quickly engulfed much of the building, including its roof.
The man describes how an acquaintance who he’d befriended on Telegram “ten to twelve days ago” had purchased a car, presumably with a view to using it as a taxi.
