Kremlin: Vladimir Putin pained by Moscow attack, even if it was invisible

The Kremlin said on Saturday (local time) that President Vladimir Putin was still pained by last week’s massacre at a Moscow concert hall, although this was not apparent from the outside.

More than a week after terrorists attacked the Krokos City Hall on the outskirts of the capital, killing 144 people and injuring hundreds, Putin has yet to publicly meet survivors or visit the site of the attack.

This was despite Russian media reports that Western diplomats, including from the European Union and the United States, visited a makeshift memorial to victims outside the venue on Saturday.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporters that Putin was dealing with the tragedy in his own way.

“Believe me, if you don’t see the tears on his face, it doesn’t mean he’s not in pain. It’s unlikely that anyone will recognize and understand what he’s going through,” he said.

The Kremlin gave no indication this week that Russia’s leaders planned to visit relatives of those killed in the attack, the country’s worst attack in two decades.

Instead, security agencies have turned their focus on those responsible, detaining more than a dozen suspects, including four from Tajikistan.

Since the March 22 attack, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attack, and IS-affiliated media channels have released graphic videos of terrorists inside the venue.

While Putin acknowledged that “radical Islamists” carried out the massacre, he continued to claim that arch-enemy Ukraine was somehow involved without providing any evidence.

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