MOSCOW, March 24 The day of national mourning for those killed in the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow begins in Russia on Sunday — it will become the thirtieth day of mourning in the country's modern history.
The decision to declare March 24 a day of mourning was announced to Russians the day before by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a special address. He called what happened in the Moscow region a bloody, barbaric terrorist act and promised that the perpetrators, organizers and customers of the crime would suffer fair and inevitable punishment.
Only the president has the right to declare a Day of Mourning in Russia. On this day, national flags are lowered and cultural institutions are advised to cancel entertainment events. TV channels are abandoning advertising and entertainment programs.
During the Soviet period, mourning was declared only after the death of leaders — Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. The exception was the death of the national hero, the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. At the same time, a day of mourning was not declared either in connection with the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant or with the death of the Komsomolets submarine.
From 1993 to the tragedy at Crocus, national mourning was declared 29 times, including after the terrorist attack at the theater center on Dubrovka in 2002, the hostage-taking at a Beslan school in 2004, and the fire at the Lame Horse club in Perm in 2009. Days of mourning in Russia were declared not only in connection with terrorist attacks, but also after natural disasters, plane crashes, major accidents with a large number of victims, and also after the death of the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 2007.
The last time a day of mourning was declared in Russia was on March 28, 2018, after a fire in the Kemerovo shopping and entertainment center «Winter Cherry», which became one of the largest number of fire victims in the country in a hundred years. As a result of the tragedy, over 60 people died, most of them children.
Several countries also declared a day of national mourning on Sunday in solidarity with Russia — among them Republika Srpska and Nicaragua. National flags will be flown at half-mast at the British and Australian embassies in Moscow.
On Sunday, all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church will pray for those killed and injured in the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow. In connection with the tragedy, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (DUM) of Moscow will suspend the work of the “Ramadan Tent” at the Memorial Mosque of the capital. Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, in turn, announced the cancellation of festive events in honor of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which were supposed to begin on March 23.
Russian regions are canceling mass entertainment and sporting events, somewhere, for example, in the Leningrad region, cafes and restaurants are advised to abandon mass banquets.
The tragedy united the Russians. Muscovites bring flowers to the site of the tragedy, and spontaneous memorials appear in Russian regions in memory of the victims. On Saturday alone, more than 4 thousand Muscovites came to donor centers to donate blood and help victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, and a number of Russian banks announced their intention to write off the loans of victims of the terrorist attack.
How it was
The FSB reported on Friday evening that the shooting and fire occurred before a concert at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. According to the latest data from the Russian Investigative Committee, 133 people died. The editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya media group and RT TV channel Margarita Simonyan reported that the number of victims of the terrorist attack in Crocus has increased to 143.
A correspondent who witnessed the incident reported that at least three men in camouflage and without masks burst into the hall through the stalls, they shot people point-blank and threw incendiary bombs.
According to the FSB central intelligence center, the weapons used by the terrorists at Crocus were prepared in advance in a cache. After the terrorist attack, the criminals tried to escape in a car, moving towards the Russian-Ukrainian border; they intended to cross the border and had relevant contacts on the Ukrainian side. According to the information center of the FSB, as a result of the actions of special services and law enforcement officers, 11 people were detained, including four terrorists who were directly involved in the terrorist attack. Four terrorists were detained in the Bryansk region within a few hours of each other. The Ministry of Internal Affairs later denied information that the detainees were Russian citizens, noting that they were all foreign citizens.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin was informed about the shooting at Crocus in the first minutes, and he constantly receives information through all relevant services about what is happening and about the measures being taken. Then the presidential press service reported that the heads of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee and the Russian Guard reported to Putin on the progress of the investigation into the terrorist attack, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations — on measures to save people, the head of the Ministry of Health and the governor of the Moscow region — on assistance to the victims.
Terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. Online reporting >>>
Terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. Consequences of the tragedy
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