VIDEO Vladimir Putin’s first public appearance after the attack in Moscow: All those who ordered the attack will be punished / The suspects were trying to flee to Ukraine

Vladimir Putin made his first public comment on the Moscow attack only on Saturday afternoon, with the Russian president echoing other officials’ assertion that the suspects were trying to flee to Ukraine and adding that those who ordered the attack would be punished.

The main elements of Vladimir Putin’s speech:

• All the attackers were found and arrested. A total of 11 people were arrested.
• They were trying to flee to Ukraine. Preliminary information shows that some people on the Ukrainian side had prepared to let them cross the border from Russia.
• All those responsible for the Moscow attack will all be punished
• We will not let our enemies divide us
• March 24 will be a day of national mourning
• Security has been beefed up across the country
• I thank the emergency services and special services for their efforts
• I would like to express my sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones
• The FSB and other law enforcement agencies are striving to identify and uncover the entire base of terrorists’ accomplices: those who provided their transportation, plotted the escape routes from the crime scene, prepared hideouts, weapons and ammunition.

This was the first public appearance of the Russian president after the attack.

Russian state broadcasters prepared all night to broadcast Vladimir Putin’s speech about the terrorist attack in Moscow, but ultimately missed it, sources at several television stations told the independent Russian publication The Insider.

In the first part of the day, the Kremlin only said that the special services had informed the president about the development of the situation. The Russian presidency also said that Putin discussed the fight against terrorism with his Belarusian ally, President Alexander Lukashenko.

The attack by several gunmen on a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday night left at least 143 dead and more than 100 injured, many in critical condition, according to Russian authorities. The FSB security service told President Vladimir Putin that 11 people were detained after the attack claimed by ISIS.

Russia started talking about the Ukrainian “connection” this morning

Russia’s security service (FSB) said on Saturday that the suspects in Friday’s deadly attack at a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow had “contacts” in Ukraine and were planning to flee there.

One of the main voices of Kremlin propaganda, Margarita Simonian, also claimed that the Ukrainians were involved in the attack, suggesting that the Americans were ultimately to blame.

Ukraine was not involved in Friday’s gun attack near Moscow, and suggestions of a Ukrainian connection “have nothing to do with reality,” a spokesman for Kiev’s military spy agency said Saturday.

“This is, of course, another lie of the Russian special services, which has nothing in common with reality and has no way of standing,” Andriy Yusov of the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate told Reuters.

The Americans had warned him, Putin replied that it was blackmail

​The United States warned Russia this month of a terrorist attack that could target “large gatherings” in Moscow, the White House said.

“Earlier this month, the US government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow that could target large gatherings of people, including concerts, and Washington shared that information with Russian authorities,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for US National Security Council.

Vladimir Putin dismissed US warnings of a potential terrorist incident in Moscow just days before Friday night’s attack.

The Russian president said on Tuesday, March 19 that the purpose of “recent provocative statements by some Western official structures regarding the possibility of terrorist attacks in Russia” is harming Russian society.

“All this looks like pure blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society,” Putin said, according to state media.