Just within days of Russia’s presidential elections, where President Vladimir Putin won a landslide victory, Crocus City Hall music venue, located in Moscow Region’s Krasnogorsk came under gruesome terrorist attack that left 40 dead and over 100 injured.
A concert of the rock band Picnic was scheduled to take place on Friday night, and Crocus City Hall was packed with fans at the time of the attack.
According to media reports, unidentified shooters opened fire in the Crocus City Hall music venue, located in Moscow Region’s Krasnogorsk.
“Unknown shooters opened fire in the Crocus City Hall. Evacuation is currently underway,” an emergency agencies representative said.
According to preliminary information, the shooters used automatic weapons. Information on the circumstances of the incident, as well as on potential victims is currently being clarified.
At least three people in camouflage opened fire at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow on March 22, 2024, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
Several people were injured in the shooting, while the concert hall caught fire, according to the correspondent.
“At least three people in camouflage burst into the ground floor of Crocus City Hall and opened fire with automatic weapons. There are definitely wounded”, the correspondent said. “After that [the gunmen] threw a grenade or an incendiary bomb, which started a fire”.
Creepy footage from Crocus City Hall in Moscow, where the shooting took place. Preliminarily, there are dead and wounded.
“People in the hall laid down on the ground to avoid the fire, laying there for about 15-20 minutes, after which they began to crawl out. Many managed to get out”, the correspondent said.
Law enforcement has arrived and are working at the scene. Local authorities said that “all forces and means have been directed to the scene of the incident”, and that “information about victims is being confirmed”.
The Emergencies Ministry said about a hundred people have been evacuated from the venue’s basement.
Moscow Region governor Andrei Vorobyov is on route to the scene of the emergency, and an operational headquarters has been created. Moscow Mayor has ordered authorities to provide “all necessary assistance”, and expressed “condolences to the relatives of the victims”.
The Russian Health Ministry told media that over 50 ambulances have been sent to Krasnogorsk to provide medical care to victims. This number has since been increased to 70.
Footage of the fire in Crocus City Hall Moscow Members of the musical group Piknik, at whose concert the shooting occurred, were not injured, the director of the show told reporters.
Moscow’s Department of Transit said the nearby Myakinino metro station is operating as normal, but said that vehicular traffic in and out of the area has been complicated by traffic jams.
A White House spokesperson said the United States is aware of the reports of the mass shooting in Moscow, and considers footage from the scene “terrifying”.
The US Embassy in Moscow and those of other NATO countries have spent the past several weeks warning of a heightened risk of terror attacks in Moscow and other Russian regions, and urging American nationals to avoid traveling to Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged the international community to condemn incident at Crocus City Hall, which it characterized as a “terror attack”.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Friday that Kiev is not involved in the attack at Crocus City Hall. Almost simultaneously US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, US sees no evidence of Ukrainian involvement in the terror attack.
John Kirby said, “At this time there are no indications that Ukraine or Ukrainians were involved in Friday’s attack on Crocus City Hall”.
It is a matter of great mystery as to how Washington has come to the conclusion stating Ukraine is not involved in the terror attack when investigation into the case it yet to conclude.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry expressed strong condemnation for Friday’s “horrific attack”, expressing its “deepest condolences” to the families of victims, and saying Islamabad “stands in solidarity with the people and government of the Russian Federation”.
Turkish Vice-President Cevdet Yilmaz expressed his condolences “to the people of Russia”, saying that terrorism is a problem the whole world is facing.
Russian internal security agency FSB said, 40 people have been killed and over 100 injured during Friday’s attack at Crocus City Hall.
Officials in Crimea and Kursk have canceled all planned public events in connection with the Crocus attack. In Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko has announced plans for a meeting of an operational HQ and the introduction of heightened security measures in the region.
According to media report, the roof of Crocus City Hall near the venue’s stage has begun to collapse.
The Investigative Committee has announced that a criminal case involving terrorism charges over the Crocus City Hall shooting attack has been opened following the emergency.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has expressed condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin over Friday’s attack on Crocus City Hall, the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry has said.
Meanwhile, it is learnt, fire in the Crocus City Hall building is getting stronger.
Russian Foreign Ministry calls Crocus attack an act of terror
“The Russian Foreign Ministry is getting calls from around the world from ordinary citizens expressing their condolences in connection with the terrible tragedy at Crocus City Hall, and using words of strong condemnation of this bloody terrorist attack”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote in her Telegram page.
Moscow mayor cancels all public events
Moscow city’s Mayor Sobyanin has canceled all public events in the Russian capital this weekend in connection with the attack at Crocus City Hall. “I have decided to cancel all sporting, cultural and other public events in Moscow this weekend. I ask you treat this measure with understanding”, Sobyanin said in a post on his Telegram channel.
UN comments on terror attack
Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres, told Sputnik the United Nations “mourns the loss of life” in Friday’s attack and is monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Editorial Board of Weekly Blitz has expressed strong condemnation for the horrific attack and expressed deepest condolences to the families of victims. Editor of the newspaper Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury wrote on X: “On behalf of Weekly Blitz, we are strongly condemning terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, Russia. Our prayers for the victims of this cowardice attack and we sincerely hope, law enforcement agencies shall be able to identify the perpetrators of such heinous crime”.
