Putin’s allies call for reinstatement of death penalty – ‘Destroy terrorists’

Top officials in the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty after Friday’s (22/03) terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 137 people.

Russia has had a moratorium on abolishing the death penalty since the 1990s, but after the attack that bloodied Moscow there are growing calls in Putin’s camp to lift it after the country’s deadliest attack in two decades.

“Many questions are being asked about the death penalty now,” Vladimir Vasiliev, head of the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said on Saturday. “This matter will certainly be treated in depth, professionally and substantively. A decision will be made that meets the mood and expectations of our society,” Vasiliev said in a statement.

At the same time, the deputy head of the State Duma security committee, Yuri Afonin, said on Saturday: “It is necessary to restore the death penalty when it comes to terrorism and murder.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, as well as State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin – two close allies of Putin – also called for “terrorists to be destroyed” after the attack.

“Terrorists only understand the terror of reprisals … death for death,” Medvedev said Friday in a Telegram post.

Medvedev’s statement also found support from the heads of two other pro-Putin parties in the Russian parliament.

At the same time, critics of the Kremlin have expressed concern about Putin’s plans to use Russia’s anti-terrorism and anti-extremism laws, laws that have often been used to target those who oppose Kremlin, both Putin’s opponents and for supporters of Ukraine.

More than 130 people were killed and dozens injured when gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert hall on Friday, shooting indiscriminately at spectators before setting the building on fire.

The number of casualties is expected to rise due to the seriousness of the condition of some of the injured. ISIS claimed the terrorist attack.

Islamic State releases video of carnage – Beware, harsh images

A video-document from the terrorist attack on the cultural center Crocus City Hall near Moscow was released by the Islamic State jihadist organization through the Telegram platform. The video contains very harsh images, both with automatic shooting and a knife attack against a citizen who was still alive.

In the video, lasting 1 minute and 28 seconds which came into his possession inshocking images are captured from the moment the gunmen started shooting indiscriminately at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk with the aim of causing the greatest possible casualties.

What does the video show?

In addition to the indiscriminate shooting, one of the terrorists is shown slitting the throat of one of the victims of the attack.

The video is believed to be authentic, as in addition to the area where the massacre took place, it shows one of the Kalashnikov brand assault rifles, with a handle on its upper part, which has a characteristic fluorescent color and is present in the documents.

#Russia 🇷🇺: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Federal Security Service (#FSB) recovered weapon and ammo from #ISIS militants in #Crocus City Hall in #Moscow.

Very interestingly a rare early variant (Gen 1) modern AK-12 assault rifle and 5.45x39mm magazines & ammo were seized. pic.twitter.com/7kLeVPsLq4

— War Noir (@war_noir) March 23, 2024

“Two of the attackers are dead,” the Russian BBC claims

A BBC source familiar with the operation to track down the attackers at Crocus City Hall near Moscow claims at least two of the attackers have been killed. One in the auditorium itself and the second in the Bryansk region, where security forces stopped a white Renault car. The documents of one of them are at the disposal of the Russian service of the BBC.

The BBC has a copy of the passport of the man killed in the Bryansk region – he is a 30-year-old citizen of Tajikistan.

According to the Russian BBC, he was given a passport by the Ministry of Interior for the city of Vakhdat, which is located 19 kilometers from Dushanbe. For some time, the deceased lived in Podolsk – in 2018, the court of the city of Podolsk ruled that he violated the rules of residence in the Russian Federation – exceeded the period of stay of 90 days. He was fined 5,000 rubles and ordered to make a “controlled independent exit” from Russia. That is, voluntary deportation.

The BBC also has a copy of the document of Samsindin Faridouni, whose video interrogation was released by Russian security forces and who was arrested during an operation in the Bryansk region where the white Renault car pictured above was shot at by the X app. Faridouni born September 17, 1998, received his current passport in Tajikistan in 2021 and valid until 2031.