Russia marked a day of mourning after over 130 people were killed on Friday during an attack at the Crocus City Hall concert. As the search operations continue, some of the families are still looking for answers to whether their loved ones are still alive.
The mourning day was observed with events at cultural institutions cancelled, flags lowered and suspension of TV entertainment and ads.
Hundreds joined in the mourning by bringing flowers to a makeshift memorial near the burnt-out concert hall.
Meanwhile, the rescuers continued to search the building. Some families still don't know the whereabouts of their loved ones, who went to the concert and hope that they are still alive.
Igor Pogadaev was desperately seeking any details of his wife's whereabouts after she went to the concert and stopped responding to his messages, reported The Associated Press.
Yana Pogadaeva had not responded since she sent her husband photos from the concert hall venue.
Around 150 people were injured in the attack, claimed by the Islamic State, and are undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
The Moscow Region's Emergency Situations Ministry posted a video on Sunday showing equipment dismantling the damaged music venue to give rescuers access.
On Saturday, Russian authorities arrested four suspected attackers, Putin said while addressing the nation that, among 11 people detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack. He claimed they were captured while fleeing to Ukraine.
Putin had called the attack, a 'barbaric terrorist act' and vowed retribution to all those behind the act.
However, Kyiv had reiterated that it had nothing to do with the attack. The Islamic State group released highly graphic footage from the attack on Saturday, appearing to show one of the gunmen opening fire on people lying on the ground.
The United States intelligence had confirmed IS's claim as Russia tried to pin it on Ukraine amid the ongoing war.
“ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has disregarded the US intelligence reports saying that the Islamic State group was behind the Moscow concert hall attack.
“I wish they could have solved the assassination of their own President Kennedy so quickly,” she wrote on Telegram. “But no, for more than 60 years they have not been able to find out who killed him after all. Or maybe that was Isis too?" she said.
“Until the investigation into the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall is completed, any phrase from Washington exonerating Kyiv should be considered as evidence,” she added.
Meanwhile, UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that the UK had "very little confidence" in Russia's statements and accused it of creating a "smokescreen of propaganda" to defend its assault on Ukraine.
“We know that they are creating a smokescreen of propaganda to defend an utterly evil invasion of Ukraine...But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a tragedy when innocent people lose their lives when you have horrible bombings,” said Hunt.
But I take what the Russian government says with an enormous pinch of salt, I am afraid, after what we have seen from them over the last few years, he added.
