Regions are rolling out assistance programs for victims of Crocus

Vladimir Putin held a meeting on Monday with representatives of executive authorities and the heads of Moscow and the Moscow region, at which measures taken in connection with the terrorist attack on March 22 at Crocus City Hall were discussed. The president noted that the crime could have been committed by radical Islamists, but “we are interested in who the customer is” and the investigation has many questions to answer. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported on the assistance that was and continues to be provided to the victims. Among them were representatives of many regions, and these regions, for their part, are also trying to support their fellow countrymen.

Opening a meeting on Monday on measures taken after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, Vladimir Putin said that the crime was committed by radical Islamists. According to the president, the United States is trying to convince its satellites and other countries of the world that, according to their intelligence data, there is supposedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terrorist attack and that the terrorist attack was carried out by members of the Islamic State banned in Russia. “We know by whose hands this atrocity was committed against Russia and its people. We are interested in who the customer is,” Vladimir Putin emphasized. According to him, the investigation will have to answer a number of questions, including finding out whether radical Islamic organizations are really interested in striking Russia, which advocates a fair solution to the escalating Middle East conflict, and how radical Islamists, positioning themselves as true believers, are going to commit atrocities during the holy month of Ramadan for all Muslims. The crime committed may be only a link in a series of attempts by those who have been fighting our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime, the president warned. The goal is to sow panic in Russian society and at the same time show that all is not lost for the Kyiv regime. Those who support this regime do not want to be accomplices and sponsors of terrorism, but there are indeed a lot of questions, Vladimir Putin concluded, after which he asked to report on the progress of the investigation.

The investigation restored the full chronology of events, the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, reported. More than 200 inspections, searches and seizures were carried out, more than 90 examinations were ordered on all seized items, weapons and ammunition, and more than 500 witnesses were interviewed. Four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack were detained and gave detailed testimony about the circumstances of the crime, the customers and persons who assisted in the preparation of the terrorist attack, Alexander Bastrykin recalled. The investigation established and detained three more people who provided assistance in preparing the terrorist attack (provided an apartment, money, a car).

Gunshot wounds directly caused the death of 40 people, the head of the Investigative Committee reported. Two more died from a combination of stab and gunshot wounds. At least 45 people died in the fire; The cause of death in other cases is still being established.

In total, 137 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack, and another 182 people were injured and injured of varying severity.

The investigation was convinced that the cause of the fire was arson: the attackers spilled gasoline on the walls and furniture in the concert hall and set it on fire. In this regard, the possibility of violation of safety and fire extinguishing requirements in the concert hall is being checked: electronic units and control devices of the fire protection system were seized and sent for examination. The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, noted a little later that the fire alarm and fire extinguishing system of Crocus City Hall worked as normal, but the fire could not be extinguished due to the large area of ​​arson.

Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov reported that his department is also assessing the work of regulatory authorities that carry out inspections of the activities of the concert complex, including fire and anti-terrorism security measures. It can already be said that executive authorities need to update the safety passports of public accommodation facilities, and such updating, according to the Prosecutor General, should occur at least once every three years. The safety data sheet for Crocus City Hall was approved on December 17, 2018 and has not been updated since then; terrorist threats are not taken into account in it, noted Igor Krasnov. The Prosecutor General’s Office, according to him, is also focused on blocking fake and other information that incites interethnic and interfaith conflicts: “According to our requirements, information was deleted from more than two hundred resources, including accounts on social networks.” Unverified information destabilized the situation to a certain extent: even authoritative media outlets “noted” themselves in this regard, which in a number of cases had to refute publications, Mr. Krasnov said.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that doctors hospitalized 145 people and 52 of them have already been released due to improvement in their condition. Doctors continue to fight for the lives of 9 people; their condition is assessed as extremely serious.

Another 29 are in serious condition, 30 are in moderate condition, and 25 are being prepared for discharge. On-site assistance to the victims was provided by 203 ambulance and air ambulance teams. Despite the fact that there was no shortage of blood for transfusions, Russians donated 4,624 liters of blood and 1,130 liters of plasma over the weekend.

According to Ms. Golikova, payments have begun to the families of the victims (3 million rubles each) and the victims (up to 1 million rubles). The Deputy Prime Minister noted that on the day of national mourning, March 24, rallies were held in the regions aimed at uniting the country’s residents and demonstrating a sense of belonging and solidarity with the victims: in total, more than one and a half million people took part in them. More than forty companies, including transport companies, banks, mobile operators and large retail outlets, are also involved in providing assistance and have already collected more than a billion rubles. Golikova thanked the caring citizens who came to the aid of people in trouble, “proving once again that our country is united and in the face of the most difficult situation we are together.” This demonstrates the maturity of our society and the willingness to defend its interests, Vladimir Putin readily agreed.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that of all the ambulances working at the scene of the tragedy, 44 arrived from Moscow, with the first four minutes after the emergency signal. Of the 94 patients admitted to capital hospitals after the terrorist attack, 18 have already been discharged. Moscow doctors, according to Sergei Sobyanin, did not lose any of the 12 people admitted in extremely serious condition, and there is hope that everyone will survive. All those who apply are provided with the necessary medical, psychological, and targeted support, the mayor of Moscow said. The capital began making payments to victims of the terrorist attack over the weekend; 60 people have already received them. Relatives of victims who come to Moscow to identify bodies or search for their loved ones are provided with free hotel accommodation and meals by the city authorities.

Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov thanked Vladimir Putin for the “recommendations and support” received from the very first moments of the tragedy, and also noted the high level of interdepartmental interaction. The key point, he said, was the work of aviation – there was a danger that the fire would spread to other objects, but thanks to the work of firefighters and rescuers, this was prevented. The search and rescue operation at Crocus will be completed on Tuesday, the governor promised: by this time every square meter of the hall, including balconies and stalls, will be dismantled. Payments to victims began to be made on Saturday, including due to the fact that Central Bank employees also went to work, Mr. Vorobiev noted.

Meanwhile, on Sunday evening it became known that among the victims were representatives of forty Russian regions and some of them were on the list of dead.

Thus, 51-year-old Alexander Baklemyshev came to the Picnic concert from the city of Satka, Chelyabinsk region. The press service of the regional government reported that, on behalf of Governor Alexei Teksler, his “relatives will be provided with all necessary assistance,” including the allocation of 1 million rubles. from the local budget. The governor of the Yaroslavl region, Mikhail Evraev, announced the same compensation to the families of those killed in the terrorist attack. Aleksey Rudnitsky, a well-known amateur hockey league player in Yaroslavl, and entrepreneur and designer Yana Kovalenkova died in Crocus City Hall. The governor also said that he plans to meet with Yaroslavl resident Alexei Osanushkov, who, as an employee of Crocus City Hall, led about a hundred people out of the building during the terrorist attack: Mr. Evraev intends to thank him for his courage and dedication.

The victims of the terrorist attack were also natives of the Republic of Khakassia Andrei and Olga Topoev (who had lived in Moscow for the last seven years), volunteers of the LisaAlert detachment from Ulyanovsk Oleg Pavlovsky and Tatyana Abdulova, as well as a native of Crimea, 48-year-old Sergei Laptev. The authorities of all these regions also promised help, but have not yet specified the details. The governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Alexey Russkikh, referred to the need to clarify the lists of victims, but promised that the region “will definitely help all the families of those killed and injured in this nightmare.”

Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov said that the city is ready to help those affected by the terrorist attack. According to preliminary data, about a hundred residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region were in Crocus City Hall, including musicians from the Leningrad region symphony orchestra. On March 25, the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg, Svetlana Agapitova, said that at least five St. Petersburg residents are not in contact with relatives.

Although doctors said on Sunday that blood and plasma donated by donors in Moscow and the Moscow region should be enough for patients throughout the country for four to six months, in many Russian regions there were also queues of people willing to donate blood for victims.

In Astrakhan, citizens began coming to blood collection points on Saturday morning. In Stavropol, 568 people donated blood, in the Krasnodar Territory – 770. In Nizhny Novgorod, they reported that a queue of donors had already been formed for two days. In Crimea, the flow of volunteers was so great that the regional blood service even had to appeal to donors to stop.

Many institutions in the regions also collect financial assistance. Thus, in Buryatia, the Russian Drama Theater named after Nikolai Bestuzhev, the Buryat Academic Drama Theater, and the Buryat Opera and Ballet Theater announced that they would transfer part of the proceeds from upcoming performances to a fund to help victims of the terrorist attack. In St. Petersburg, the Zenit football club announced that they would donate funds raised at the home match with the Baltika team to the victims. The mayor of Sochi, Alexei Kopaygorodsky, said that local health resorts are ready to accept the victims and their families: “Our resort medicine methods will help them restore their health and recover from their experiences.”

Anastasia Kornya, Ivan Tyazhlov; corset “Kommersant”