Summary

  • At least 133 people were killed and more than 140 injured when gunmen attacked a packed concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia says

  • A large fire engulfed the roof of the complex and dramatic video shows panicked concertgoers taking cover as shots and explosions ring out

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin says all four gunmen have been arrested, and that the suspects were trying to flee to Ukraine - Kyiv says allegations of Ukrainian involvement are "absurd"

  • Putin calls the attack a "barbaric terrorist act" and announces a day of national mourning for 24 March

  • Muscovites are queuing to give blood for those injured and flower tributes have been placed at the scene of the attack

  • The US says it's credible that the Islamic State group could be behind the attack, after the group said it did it. Russia has not commented

Live Reporting

Edited by Robert Plummer

  1. Key points from Putin's speech

    Russian President Vladimir PutinSputnik/Pavel Byrkin/Kremlin

    If you're just joining us, a little while ago Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to Russians following last night's attack in Moscow.

    The newly-elected president spoke for around five minutes and here are some of the key lines from what he said:

    The criminals were cold-blooded and purposefully going to kill, shoot our citizens and our children at point-blank range.

    They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.

    Whoever they are, whoever is guiding them. I repeat: we will identify and punish everyone who stands behind the terrorists.

    The main thing now is to prevent those who are behind this bloodbath from committing a new crime."

  2. Memorials to victims appear outside Russian embassies

    People around the world have been paying tribute to the victims of the Moscow concert hall attack, with memorials appearing outside Russian embassies in several countries, including the UK.

    Here are some of the pictures we've been seeing.

    flowers and candles on a tableRussian Embassy in Cyprus/Telegram

    Cypriots brought flowers and candles to the Russian embassy in Nicosia

    Since the very morning, residents and guests of Minsk have been walking in an endless stream to the spontaneous memorial near the building of the Russian Embassy People bring flowers, candles and children's toys in memory of the victims of the terrible terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.Russian embassy Belarus/Telegram

    In Minsk, Belarusians have been laying flowers, candles and children's toys at a memorial

    Flowers and candles against a wall and gardenRussian embassy Sydney/Telegram

    The Russian embassy in Sydney says Australians and Russian compatriots have been laying flowers outside the building

    Bouquet of flowers on a wallRussian embassy of Israel/Telegram

    Israel's Russian embassy has said on the messaging app Telegram that people have been leaving flowers there too

  3. Death toll rises to 133
    Breaking

    The death toll of the Crocus Concert Hall attack has now risen to 133, the Russian Investigative Committee says.

    As the emergency services are continuing to clear rubble at the venue, they are continuing to find more bodies, the committee says in a post shared on the Telegram messaging app.

  4. Analysis

    Unverified videos and claims abound on social media

    Laura Gozzi
    Europe reporter

    A number of unverified videos have been circulating on the messaging app Telegram purporting to show some of the men involved in last night's attack.

    One video shows a man being held down while he is asked questions about the attack. He says he was recruited on the Internet to carry out the attack and claims he was promised 1m rubles (£8,600) to shoot concertgoers at the Crocus City Hall. Another video claims to show one of the "leaders" of the attack.

    We must stress that, although these videos are being shared extensively on the Internet, they remain unverified.

    Soon after the attack, photos of the passports of some the alleged attackers were shared online.

    The Tajik minister of the interior was quick to put out a statement saying that, in at least two cases, the men in question could not be responsible as they had been in Tajikistan for months and had credible alibis.

    All of this shows that, more than 12 hours after the attack, confusion still abounds.

    In his address to the nation, President Putin said the attackers were preparing to flee towards Ukraine, where a "window" had been prepared for them - with the help of Ukraine - to allow them to cross the border.

    He has provided no proof for these claims, and Ukraine has staunchly denied any involvement in the attacks.

    So, until definitive proof is offered by the Russian authorities, it is likely that unverified rumours and videos will continue to circulate.

  5. What did we learn from Putin's speech?

    Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via a videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on March 22, 2024Getty Images

    In a televised address to the nation, Putin thanked the doctors and security officers who helped the victims of the Moscow attack. Here is what the Russian president said:

    • Putin said all four gunmen responsible for the Moscow concert hall shooting, in which at least 115 people were killed, have been detained
    • He said the attackers had tried to escape towards Ukraine
    • Putin said preliminary information showed some people on the Ukrainian side had prepared to let them cross the border from Russia - Kyiv earlier said claims of Ukrainian involvement were "absurd"
    • Putin announced a day of mourning for 24 March and said dozens of peaceful, innocent people were victims of the Crocus attack
    • Putin said all who prepared the attack would be identified and punished
    • The Russian president said the attack was a "barbaric terrorist act" and that the attackers "would not divide us"

  6. Our enemies will not divide us - Putin

    PutinAFP

    The Russian president calls the attack on the concert hall a "barbaric terrorist act".

    "Our enemies will not divide us," he also says.

    Putin's just finished his speech now.

    Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates, reactions and analysis shortly.

  7. All four attackers have been arrested - Putin

    The Russian president continues his speech by saying that all the attackers have been found and are now detained.

    Putin said that the four gunmen responsible for the concert hall attack had been arrested.

  8. Those responsible will be punished, Putin says

    Vladimir Putin has thanked emergency services and special services for their efforts after last night's attack in Moscow.

    The Russian president continues by saying the attackers tried to escape towards Ukraine, and security has been tightened in response.

    They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, he says, where according to preliminary information a window had been prepared together with the Ukrainian side for them to cross the state border.

    Putin says he's announcing a day of mourning for tomorrow - 24 March.

    All those responsible will be punished, the president adds.

  9. President Putin is speaking
    Breaking

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is now making an address to the nation while sitting at a table next to two Russian flags.

    We'll bring you the latest updates as we get them.

  10. Putin is about to make speech

    We're now hearing that Russian President Vladimir Putin is about to speak.

    We'll bring you the latest lines as soon as we have them.

  11. Watch: BBC visits scene of Moscow concert attack

    The BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg has been on the ground in Moscow visiting the scene of last night's attack at the Crocus City Hall.

    The first thing you notice at the location is the smell, he says, with the air still thick with smoke from a fire at the venue that burned all night.

    Watch his full report here:

  12. How common are mass attacks in Russia?

    The attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow, in which at least 115 people have been killed, is the deadliest in Russia since the Beslan school siege in 2004.

    This was when Chechen separatists took more than 1,000 hostages, the vast majority children, and more than 330 people died, including 186 children.

    Last night's attack brought back memories of a theatre siege in the capital in 2002, when 40 Chechen militants took more than 900 people hostage during a musical called NordOst.

    Russian security services eventually stormed the theatre, pumping sleeping gas into the hall. Some 130 hostages died.

    There have been other mass shootings in recent Russian history, such as in 2018 when an 18-year-old student killed 20 people at a technical college in the city of Kerch, in Russian-annexed Crimea, before killing himself.

    In 2021, a 19-year-old was detained after seven children and two adults were killed in a shooting at a school in the Russian city of Kazan.

    Also, in 2022, a gunman who was a former pupil at a school in Izhevsk in central Russia opened fire killing at least 17 people, including 11 children, and killed himself at the scene.

  13. Watch: Rescuers scour hollowed out remains of concert hall

    Watch: Moscow's state governor is shown the fire ravaged venue

    The governor of the Moscow region has shared some harrowing footage from inside the burnt out remains of the Crocus Concert Hall, revealing the full scale of the fire damage from last night's attack.

    Andrei Vorobyov, seen in the video meeting emergency service staff in the destroyed music venue, says in a post shared on the Telegram messaging app that 20 more bodies were found beneath the rubble. The ceiling, he adds, is in danger of collapse.

    The governor says rescuers will continue to scour the site for "several days" and will continue to work “round the clock”.

  14. Ukrainian involvement 'absurd', presidential aide says

    As we mentioned earlier, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) are claiming those involved in the Moscow attack were planning to cross the border with Ukraine, and had "contacts" over the border.

    That was first denied by Ukraine's military intelligence directorate, and now we have a new statement to the same effect from an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

    "The versions of Russian special services regarding Ukraine are absolutely untenable and absurd," says Mykhaylo Podolyak in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

  15. Analysis

    There are no words to describe what we went through, says eyewitness

    Steve Rosenberg
    BBC Russia editor

    Margarita, Russian who attended the Moscow concert hall during the attacks, speaks with the BBC

    Outside Crocus City Hall, I catch up with a woman, Margarita, who says she attended the rock concert in Moscow on Friday night with her husband.

    “There are no words to describe what we went through,” she says.

    I heard an explosion. I thought it was a firework. Then 'bang bang bang!' - that didn’t stop. There was shouting and panic.”

    Margarita goes on to tell me that when she got back home last night the first thing she did was hug her two small children.

    “I fell to my knees before them and told them how we’d been shot at. I was becoming hysterical. My kids hugged me. I couldn’t sleep last night. And, today, everything that happened is playing back in my eyes and in my ears,” she says.

  16. Husband searching for missing wife says he can’t reach hospitals

    People bring flowers to the burned Crocus City Hall concert venue following a terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, Russia, 23 March 2024.EPA

    A man whose wife attended the concert in Moscow and is now missing says he has tried calling five hospitals but the phone lines are all busy.

    Semyon Khraptsov says: "I am in complete panic. I don’t know what to do, [I'm in] complete hopelessness. My friends tell me to just wait for the lists of victims, wait for the phone line at the hospital to open up."

    He says his wife went to the concert with friends, and he spoke to her at 20:00 local time last night (17:00 GMT).

    I tried shouting into the phone, but I didn’t understand what was happening at all. The police couldn't tell me anything, neither could the medics."

    Semyon Khraptsov

    One man who was caught up in the attack describes to the BBC the moment the attack began.

    "I was sitting in the hall upstairs where the balconies were, we heard gunshots, at first we didn't understand what was happening.

    "Then I saw how the terrorists came in, started shooting everyone and in the end they threw a petrol bomb, everything was set on fire," he says.

  17. Death toll could still rise 'significantly', Moscow governor says

    A map of the Crocus Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia.

    Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, says the number of victims in the attack on Crocus Concert Hall could still "rise significantly".

    As a reminder, at least 115 people are known to have been killed in the attack.

    More than 140 others were wounded and 16 of those people are still in an "extremely serious condition", including one child, Russian authorities say.

    Another 44 people are in serious condition, with a total of 107 victims being treated at hospital, the ministry says.

    A phone line has also been opened for relatives of victims to find the "location and condition of relatives hospitalised in Moscow city medical institutions", Russia's state-owned news agency Tass is reporting.

  18. Putin and Lukashenko aim to 'fight against terrorism' together

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visit the Museum of Naval Glory in Kronstadt near Saint Petersburg, RussiaReuters

    Russian President Putin and Belarusian President Lukashenko pictured together in July last year

    While we are yet to hear Russian President Vladimir Putin speak directly about last night's attack, we have been hearing about his latest discussion with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

    According to Russian state news agency Tass, citing the Kremlin, both leaders have confirmed "their readiness to work together in the fight against terrorism".

    Authoritarian Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko is an ally of Putin's and some Russian troops are stationed in Belarus.

    The armies from both countries have held a number of joint drills together and in February 2022 up to 30,000 troops invaded Ukraine from Belarusian territory.

  19. Muscovites queue to donate blood

    While rescuers are busily combing through the wreckage at the site of the Crocus Concert Hall, people in Moscow have been queuing to donate blood for the victims of the attack.

    It was also reported earlier that the Russian national football team would donate blood.

    People queuing outside the Russian national public health institute buildingReuters

    A blood bank has been set up at the Russian national public health institute

  20. Analysis

    Flowers tributes are seen outside concert hall

    Steve Rosenberg
    BBC Russia editor

    Flowers are laid outside Crocus City Hall in Moscow after a deadly attack that left at least 93 dead

    We’re currently standing opposite Crocus City Hall, the morning after at least 93 people were killed when gunmen attacked a packed concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow.

    The first thing that hits you is the smell: the air is thick with the stench of smoke. Black smoke is still rising from inside the building. There’s a sea of fire engines that remain parked in front of the concert hall.

    Russian firefighters spent all night tackling the blaze, including with the use of helicopters. What was one of Russia’s most famous concert venues is now a disaster zone.

    People are bringing flowers here and laying floral tributes to the dead next to a fence at a corner of the building.