Russian TV channels showed a video of the accused in the terrorist attack in “Crocus”

On Sunday evening, Russian federal television channels showed a video of the interrogation of those accused of the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall, which killed at least 144 people.

The video was obtained from the FSB. Excerpts from it were shown in prime time by First Channel and Rossiya-1. The videos show all four alleged perpetrators of the terrorist attack, who were detained the day after the attack. All of them claim that their actions were coordinated by a certain Saifullo, who allegedly told them to leave “in the direction of Kyiv” after the terrorist attack.

Two of the suspects, Muhammadsobir Fayzov and Saidakram Rachalybzoda, also claim that they were promised to hand over a million rubles each to Kyiv. According to Fayzov, “guys who will help… cross the border and get to Kyiv” should have been waiting at the border of Ukraine with Russia. Two other suspects, Fariduna Shamsiddin and Dalerzhon Mirzoev, talk about it somewhat differently, claiming that “Saifullo” told them to leave the car near the border and called him for instructions.

After that, the authors of the story of the First Channel claim that while the attackers of “Crocus” were driving to the border, they allegedly prepared two corridors for them to cross the border on Ukrainian territory, demining the area in two places. The accused themselves do not talk about this, there are no independent confirmations of this information. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the “window” on the border on the first day after the terrorist attack.

The story also showed photos with the Ukrainian flag, allegedly found in the mobile phones of the accused. One of them, as discovered by Radio Liberty, is a picture from the Depositphotos photo bank on the topic “Ukrainian Army”. Earlier, the “Agency” discovered that the collage, allegedly found in the phone, was published on the Internet more than a year ago.

All four defendants were subjected to violence and, probably, torture during and immediately after detention. One of them, in particular, had part of his ear cut off, the second was allegedly electrocuted – the relevant photos were published by pro-war Telegram channels. It is not known when and under what circumstances the video that aired on federal channels was filmed.

• From the first day after the terrorist attack, the representatives of the Russian authorities declared the so-called Ukrainian trace in the terrorist attack, the organization of which was previously taken over by the recognized terrorist group “Islamic State”. Those detained on suspicion of the attack on “Crocus” and aiding and abetting them are natives of Central Asian countries, primarily Tajikistan. The fact that after the attack on “Crocus” they left by car to the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, where they were detained, representatives of the authorities call it evidence of “Ukrainian traces”. Ukraine categorically denies any involvement in the attack on Crocus, Western intelligence agencies also claim that there is no evidence of involvement by anyone other than IS.