Putin declares national mourning and pledges brutal retaliation

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared March 24 a day of national mourning in connection with the terrorist attack in Moscow on March 22, which left 133people killed. Putin appeared in a televised address to the nation in connection with the attack in Crocus City Hall concert and entertainment center in the town of Krasogorsk near Moscow.

Putin clarified that additional anti-terrorist and anti-sabotage measures have been introduced in all regions of the country.

"Together with those who lost their loved ones and friends, the whole country, our entire nation is mourning,” the president said.

In his address, Putin said that the terrorists' accomplices arranged a window for them to escape from Russia to Ukraine. Four perpetrators of the terrorist attack were detained on March 23.

133 bodies recovered from under the rubble

The rescue operation at the site of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall has been completed, but search operations still continue, Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

According to him, rescuers recovered the bodies of 133 victims of the terrorist attack from under the rubble.

The head of state called the attack a bloody and barbaric event that claimed the lives of innocent civilians. He promised that all those involved in the terrorist attack would receive fair punishment.

"All perpetrators and organisers of this crime will suffer fair and inevitable punishment. Whoever they are, whoever guides them. I repeat, we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists, who prepared this atrocity. This is a blow to Russia, to our people,” Putin said.

The Russian leader said that the criminals who committed the terrorist attack went on a shooting spree killing innocent civilians at point-blank range. This is exactly how Nazis used to kill people in the past, Putin noted.

"They planned to stage a show execution, a bloody act of intimidation," Putin said.

It is only retaliation and oblivion that awaits terrorists. "They have no future," he added.