Putin vows to find the masterminds of the Moscow concert hall attack and urges tighter security

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday to track down the masterminds of the Moscow concert hall attack that left 144 people dead in the worst assault on Russian soil in two decades, and urged its law enforcement agencies to tighten security at mass gatherings.

Putin has repeatedly sought to link the March 22 killings to Ukraine and the West despite the Islamic State group's claim of responsibility and Kyiv's vehement denial, as well as a U.S. government warning to Moscow days earlier of an imminent attack.

Speaking at a meeting with top officials of the Interior Ministry that oversees the nation's police force, Putin said it is important to determine "not only the perpetrators of this outrage but all links in the chain and its beneficiaries.”

He added, in an apparent threat of retaliation: “Those who use this weapon against Russia should realize it's a double-edged weapon.”

Putin said that the masterminds of the concert hall raid sought to “sow discord and panic, strife and hatred in our country in order to break up Russia from within," adding that “we mustn't allow them to do that.”

“It's inadmissible to use the tragic event to provoke ethnic tensions, xenophobia and Islamophobia," he said.

Russian security agencies have detained four suspects, all of them citizens of Tajikistan, and seven other alleged accomplices.

The attack has fueled anti-migrant sentiments and drawn calls from Russian hawks to limit immigration despite the fact that the Russian economy strongly depends on such workers, most of them from ex-Soviet nations in Central Asia, including Tajikistan.

Russian media reported that authorities have strengthened controls over migrants following the attack.

Putin urged the Interior Ministry to tighten controls on illegal migration and close loopholes in existing procedures that allow people with a criminal past to get work permits and even Russian citizenship.

The lapse in security has led many to wonder how gunmen could easily kill so many people at a public event. Kremlin critics have argued that it was rooted in the vast Russian security apparatus focusing not on threats of terrorism but on stifling the political opposition, independent media and civil society groups in the harshest crackdown since Soviet times.

Putin said the authorities are investigating the performance of law enforcement structures and other agencies in the concert hall attack. He urged law enforcement agencies to strengthen security at public gatherings.

“We have paid a very high price, and the analysis of the situation must be objective and professional,” he said. “It's important to do that in order to take ensuring security and order at mass gatherings, sports facilities, transport, trade and recreational centers, schools, hospitals, universities, theaters and so on to a new level. All those facilities must be under constant control.”

Putin again charged that Moscow's foreign adversaries were aiming to “ruin what is left of historic Russia, to break up its core" in order to win control over the country's vast resources.

“Some of them are trying to preserve their hegemony in today's rapidly changing world at our expense,” he said. “Some apparently saw our country as a weak link. They are mistaken.”

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed it carried out the attack, and U.S. intelligence said it had information confirming the group was responsible. The U.S. government said it told Russia in early March of an imminent attack under the “duty to warn” rule that obliges U.S. intelligence officials to share such information, even with adversaries. It was unclear how specific the tip was.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow also issued a public notice March 7 advising Americans to avoid crowds in the capital over the next 48 hours due to “imminent” plans by extremists to target large gatherings, including concerts. Just three days before the attack, Putin dismissed the U.S. Embassy notice as an attempt to scare or intimidate Russians and blackmail the Kremlin.

The chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, confirmed that Moscow received the U.S. tip but said it was lacking detail.

“The information was too general and didn't allow to fully identify those who were involved in that horrible crime,” Naryshkin said, following a similar statement last week from Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, Russia's main domestic security agency.

FILE - A massive blaze is seen over the Crocus City Hall concert venue on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2024. The attack on the venue that killed over 140 people marked a major failure of Russian security agencies. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual meeting of Russian Interior Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev sits on the right. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual meeting of Russian Interior Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual meeting of Russian Interior Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, addresses the annual meeting of Russian Interior Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev sits on the right. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual meeting of Russian Interior Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The situation on the front line in eastern Ukraine is worsening but local defenders are so far holding firm against a concerted push by Russia’s bigger and better-equipped forces, a senior Ukrainian military official said Thursday.

Nazar Voloshyn, spokesperson for Ukrainian strategic command in the east of the country, said Russia has amassed troops in the Donetsk region in an effort to punch through the Ukrainian defensive line.

“The enemy is actively attacking along the entire front line, and in several directions they have achieved certain tactical advances,” he said on national television. “The situation is changing dynamically.”

Russia has pushed Ukraine onto the back foot on the battlefield as Kyiv grapples with shortages of troops and ammunition. Ukrainian forces are now racing to build more defensive fortifications at places along the around 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.

Ukraine’s difficulties have been deepening for months as the military waited for vital new military aid from the United States. The support was held up in Washington for six months.

Ukrainian soldiers withdrew from Avdiivka, a city in the Donetsk region, in February under a withering Russian barrage that had sapped their fighting strength and morale. Since then, the Kremlin's forces have used their military might to take village after village in the area, bludgeoning them into submission, as they look to capture the parts of Donetsk they don't already occupy.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron reiterated in an interview published Thursday that he doesn’t exclude sending troops to Ukraine.

‘’I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out,’’ he told the Economist, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. ″If the Russians penetrate the front lines, if there is a Ukrainian request -- which is not the case today -- we should legitimately ask ourselves the question″ of sending troops, Macron was quoted as saying.

Macron drew criticism from Russia and Western allies when he first floated the possibility earlier this year. "If Russia wins in Ukraine we will no longer have security in Europe. Who can pretend that Russia would stop there?’’ he said in the interview.

Cities in Russia’s crosshairs, including recent target Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, are pulverized by Moscow’s missiles, drones and glide bombs.

The Donetsk and Luhansk provinces together make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the war’s outset and where Moscow-backed separatists have fought since 2014.

Also, Russia launched its third attack in a week on Odesa, firing ballistic missiles at the southern Ukrainian port city and injuring 14 people, local officials and emergency services said.

The attack hit a sorting depot belonging to Ukraine’s biggest private delivery company, Nova Poshta. No staff were injured, the company said, but the strike started a major fire.

On Monday, six people were killed in a Russian missile strike on Odesa, and two days later three people died there when the Kremlin’s forces targeted civilian infrastructure.

Long-range strikes have been a feature of Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, which mostly has focused on attrition. Kyiv officials have pleaded for more air defense systems from Ukraine’s Western partners, but they have been slow in coming.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russia had launched more than 300 missiles of various types, almost 300 Shahed-drones, and more than 3,200 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine in April alone.

Odesa, a key export hub for millions of tons of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, has been repeatedly targeted by Russia. Thursday was the 10th anniversary of clashes in the city between pro- and anti-Russia demonstrators that left 48 people dead.

Ukraine has deployed increasingly sophisticated long-range drones to hit back, aiming at targets on Russian soil, especially infrastructure that sustains the Russian economy and war effort.

The governors of three Russian regions reported that energy facilities were damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes overnight. Oryol region Gov. Andrei Klychkov said energy infrastructure was hit in two communities. The Smolensk and Kursk governors reported one facility damaged in each region.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian drones were shot down over the Bryansk, Krasnodar, Rostov and Belgorod regions. Most were intercepted in Bryansk, where five were brought down, it said.

In other developments, Zelenskyy confirmed that a peace summit for Ukraine will take place at the lakeside Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne, Switzerland on June 15 and 16.

Zelenskyy said he expected that heads of states and governments from all continents would attend the meeting “to discuss ways to achieving comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine in accordance with the U.N. Charter and international law.”

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said more than 160 delegations are expected, including international bodies, but Russia has not so far been invited.

Switzerland is open to inviting Russia, and is convinced that Russia must be involved, it said, but noted that the Kremlin has repeatedly said that it has no interest in participating.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency service personnel try to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)