Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed retribution for those who sponsored the attack on Crocus City Hall.
"It is important for us to expose both the perpetrators and all links in that chain, including the beneficiaries of that crime," Putin said, addressing participants in an Interior Ministry board meeting.
"We will certainly get them," Putin said, referring to sponsors of the attack.
"Those who use this weapon, this being a weapon that is used against Russia, and this is obvious today, should understand that this is a double-edged weapon," the president maintained.
According to Putin, crimes for money are nothing unique. "Besides, there are no reliable agents in this professional community and anything at all can be done for money, with the perpetrators being guided only by financial rather than religious or political considerations," he pointed out. Everything, including any information, "is easily bought and sold" across that community, Putin lamented. "That said, we will definitely get the end customers," the president reiterated.
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just outside the Moscow city limits. According to the latest data, 144 people have died, and 551 others have been injured.
Putin : 'Russia Will Find All Perpetrators, Their Links, Beneficiaries of Crocus Attack'
Russia will find all the perpetrators, beneficiaries and links connected to the Crocus terrorist attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"It is important for us to identify not only the direct perpetrators, but also all the links, chains of the criminal beneficiaries of this atrocity. We will certainly get to them," Putin said at an expanded meeting of the board of the Russian Interior Ministry.
On March 22, several armed men broke into Crocus City Hall and started shooting at people. They also started a fire in one of the auditoriums, which was full of people ahead of a concert. The attack left 695 casualties, including 144 dead, according to the latest data from the Russian Emergencies Ministry. The four main suspects in the case — all citizens of Tajikistan — tried to flee the scene in a car but were detained and charged with terrorism. Russian authorities believe their plan was to flee to Ukraine, where the masterminds of the attack had arranged a safe haven for them. An investigation is underway.
The Russian president noted that the cause of extremism and criminal activity is illegal migration.
"At recent meetings of the FSB [Federal Security Service] and the Prosecutor General's Office, I paid special attention to the need to effectively combat any extremist forms. You know that the breeding ground for such extremist, and just outright criminal activity, is in many cases in illegal migration," Putin said.
At the same time, Putin added, the recent tragic events in Crocus should not provoke an increase in xenophobia and Islamophobia in Russia.
"At the same time, it is unacceptable, I want to emphasize this, to use recent tragic events to provoke national hatred, xenophobia, Islamophobia and so on," he said.
Vladimir Putin highlighted that it is necessary to ensure the interests and security of the state and society, as well as to preserve interethnic peace.
"First of all, it is necessary to ensure the interests and security of the state and society, to preserve interethnic and interreligious harmony, our cultural and linguistic identity — all that is the strength of Russia," Putin said at the meeting of the board of the Russian Interior Ministry.
People who respect Russia's traditions, history, and language should come to the country, the president said, adding that this should be the main principle of the migration policy.
