After Moscow attack

France declares highest terror alert level

A soldier next to a logo of the "Vigiprate", the French term for security measures against terror (archive image)(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/IAN LANGSDON)

Following the attack on a concert hall in Moscow, which left at least 137 people dead, the French government has declared the highest level of alert. In addition to the devastating attack, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal also referred to "threats to which our country is exposed" as the reason for raising the alert level.

The highest alert level is declared in France when it is assumed that an attack is imminent. The decision was taken "in view of the fact that the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack and in view of the threats to which our country is exposed", Attal explained in the online service X.

Suspects on trial
Earlier on Sunday evening, the first two suspects were brought before a court in the Russian capital. The two men were formally charged with involvement in a terrorist attack. They face life imprisonment. According to the Russian government, a total of eleven arrests were made after the attack. All suspects are foreigners. The investigative committee informed four suspects after the interrogations that charges would be brought against them for the joint deadly terrorist attack.

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Masked attackers had entered the crowded Crocus City Hall in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk on Friday evening and shot indiscriminately at visitors with Kalashnikovs before setting the building on fire. Shortly after the attack, the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility. Western experts specifically suspect the IS province of Khorasan, a regional offshoot, to be behind the attack.

Although the terrorists claimed responsibility for the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin sees a "Ukrainian trail" behind the attack - without providing any evidence. Such allegations are also widely spread by Russian propagandists online.

"Senseless cruelty"
The bloody attack took place shortly before the popular Russian rock band Piknik was due to perform at the concert hall. The members of the group laid flowers for the victims in front of the hall on Sunday evening. After a minute's silence, they expressed their condolences to the bereaved families of the dead. "This atrocity is a senseless, unimaginable cruelty," said band leader Edmund Schkljarski.