Moscow, Russia
Reuters
Ambassadors from a number of foreign countries took part in a ceremony on Saturday in memory of the victims of this month’s concert hall attack near Moscow which left dozens dead, the Russian foreign ministry’s protocol department said.
Gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers on 22nd March in the worst attack in Russia in two decades which left at least 144 people dead.
Ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in Russia attend a flowers laying ceremony at the memorial for the victims of the attack at Crocus City Hall concert venue in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, on 30th March, 2024. PICTURE: Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via Reuters
“On March 30, 2024, a ceremony to lay flowers at the spontaneous memorial near the Crocus City Hall complex was held. Heads and staff of more than 130 diplomatic missions (over 250 people) took part in the memorial action,” the ministry’s State Protocol Department said on its website.
Among those who took part were ambassadors from the United States, European Union, Africa, Latin America, as well as representatives of the UN and other organisations, Kommersant newspaper reported.
They and other visitors laid flowers at the memorial and launched white balloons into the sky.
“We are deeply grateful to the distinguished representatives of the diplomatic corps for their solidarity with the Russian people at such a difficult time,” the protocol department said.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and US officials say they have intelligence showing it was carried out by the network’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K).
Russian investigators said on Thursday they had found proof that the concert hall gunmen were linked to “Ukrainian nationalists”, an assertion dismissed by the United States as baseless propaganda.
Russia has said from the outset that it believes Ukraine was linked to the attack, even though Kyiv has denied it.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment said there has been a surge of migrant workers leaving Russia for Tajikistan after the 22nd March concert hall attack near Moscow.
Members of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and workers remove debris inside the burnt-out Crocus City Hall following a deadly attack on the concert venue outside Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released on 26th March, 2024. PICTURE: Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters
Four of the suspected gunmen are Tajik citizens and were arrested along with seven other suspects, some of whom also come from the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation.
“We receive a lot of calls. These are most likely not complaints about harassment, but fear of our citizens, panic, many want to leave. We are now monitoring the situation, we have more people coming [to Tajikistan] than leaving,” Shakhnoza Nodiri, deputy head of the ministry, was quoted by Russian state news agency TASS as saying.
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Tajikistan detained nine people this week suspected of having links to the mass shooting and also to the militant Islamist State group that claimed responsibility, a Tajik security source told Reuters.
A labour shortage in Russia’s economy may become even worse due to the outflow of migrant workers, with a deficit in the construction industry growing by 36 per cent this year compared to 2022, Anton Glushkov, president of the National Association of Builders (NOSTROY), told Interfax news agency on Friday.
The Russian Central Bank has said that staff shortages and resulting jump in wages were among risks to inflation that have compelled it to keep the key interest rate elevated.
Tajikistan’s labour ministry expects that the outflow of migrants from Russia will be temporary.
According to the ministry’s website, 652,014 labour migrants left the country in 2023 compared to 775,578 in 2022.
– With reporting by ELENA FABRICHNAYA
