Nineteen people have been jailed over an attack at a concert hall near Moscow that killed 149 people and left more than 500 injured, the deadliest mass shooting in Russia in two decades.
A Russian military court handed life sentences to four gunmen and 11 accomplices. Four other defendants were given between 19 and 22 years, state media reported.
Gunmen opened fire at Crocus City Concert Hall on the outskirts of Russia’s capital on 22 March 2024 and set fire to the venue.
An Islamic State group affiliate admitted it had carried out the attack and posted video evidence. Moscow has repeatedly alleged Ukrainian involvement, which Kyiv has strenuously denied.
As the Middle East lurches toward wider war, Vladimir Putin finds himself confronted by the terrifying reality of the world he has always demanded. For a quarter of a century, the Russian president has been demanding a “multipolar world order”, one that would overturn the hypocritical liberal consensus. Now, that order might have arrived, but the system taking shape is not creating a stronger Russia. Instead, it reveals an increasingly isolated and weakened state — one that, if the history of Putin’s rule is anything to go by, might see the Kremlin turn toward even further domestic repression and foreign 
It took only a minute to change the world.
