Russia accuses an 'unfriendly state' of planning the 2024 Moscow concert hall assault

One year since the Moscow concert hall attack killed 145 people, Russian officials have asserted that it was planned and organized by “the special services of an unfriendly state.” The aim, according to a statement Saturday by Svetlana Petrenko, the representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, was to “destabilize the situation in Russia.” Though she did not specify the “unfriendly state,” she noted that “six Central Asians” currently outside of Russia had been charged in absentia and placed on Russia’s wanted list for allegedly recruiting and organizing the training of four of the suspected perpetrators.