MOSCOW. April 5 (Interfax) - Investigators are looking into the possible involvement of Ukrainian special services and international Islamist groups in masterminding the March 22 terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow, the Russian Investigative Committee said.
"Investigative procedures and measures to check whether representatives of Ukrainian special services and international Islamist terrorist organizations were involved in masterminding and financing that terrorist attack are continuing," the Investigative Committee said on its Telegram channel on Friday.
The Investigative Committee said earlier that it was looking only into information on Ukrainian special services' possible role in the attack.
"The results of an expert examination of the mobile phones that the terrorists tried to destroy helped receive data significant to the investigation regarding the circumstances of preparations for the crime," it said.
"The Crocus City Hall concert venue was chosen as the target for the attack on orders from the supervisor who coordinated the terrorists' actions," the committee said.
"In the morning of February 24, 2024, i.e. on the anniversary of the start of the special military operation, one of the participants in the crime, acting on the supervisor's orders, found online screenshots showing the entrances to the Crocus City Hall building and the access ways to it and sent these screenshots to him. The suspect confirmed all that in his testimony," the committee said.
In addition, "photos depicting people dressed in camouflage with the Ukrainian flag and standing against the backdrop of ruined houses and a Ukrainian postage stamp with an obscene gesture were found in the terrorist's phone," it said.
"This information may indicate the presence of a link between that terrorist attack and the special military operation," the committee said.