An excerpt from Putin’s speech: “The instigators will be punished, whoever they are”
Putin’s video message to the nation lasted 5 and a half minutes. In this excerpt, the Russian president speaks of the unity of the people and the commitment to identify and punish those responsible and those instigating them.
Putin then confirmed that Russia believes it has arrested all four men who physically carried out the attack on the Crocus town hall. He said they were all arrested on their way to Ukraine. “They tried to hide and headed towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, on the Ukrainian side, a window has been prepared for crossing the state border“, he said. “The Russian Federal Security Service and other law enforcement agencies are working to identify and uncover the entire accomplice base of terrorists: those who provided them with transportation, outlined escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches, weapons and ammunition depots”.
“Doctors are now fighting for the lives of the victims, those who are in serious conditions. I am sure that they will do everything possible and even impossible to preserve the life and health of all the injured. Special words of gratitude to the crews of ambulances and air ambulances, soldiers of special forces, firefighters, rescuers who did everything to save people’s lives, pull them out of the fire, from the epicenter of fire and smoke and avoid even greater losses. I cannot ignore the help of ordinary citizens who, in the first minutes after the tragedy, did not remain indifferent and indifferent and, together with doctors and security officers, provided first aid and delivered the victims to hospitals”