When four men were detained by the Russian authorities in connection with the massacre at a concert hall outside Moscow last week, they were dressed in the same attire as the assailants seen in videos of the attack, according to a New York Times analysis of footage from the hall, social media profiles and images leaked or released by Russia.
The identical clothing and other corresponding details suggest they carried out the attack. A video of one of the suspects being detained, for instance, shows him wearing a light brown T-shirt with a distinctive logo on the left breast and pants with a Boss label: Those details match the clothes worn by a gunman in propaganda footage of the attack released by the Islamic State, a.k.a. ISIS.
In addition, the Times analysis shows, the car that the suspects were driving when they were apprehended is the same color and type as one seen in footage from outside the concert hall during the attack.
The four suspects in the assault that left more than 130 dead were identified in a Moscow court hearing on Sunday night as Saidakrami M. Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni, Muhammadsobir Z. Fayzov and Dalerjon B. Mirzoyev. They were charged with committing a terrorist act and remanded to custody until May 22.
Three of the suspects told the court they were from Tajikistan, and in interrogation videos reviewed by The Times, at least two men spoke Tajik. The videos show some of the men being beaten during their detention, and two of the men had clear injuries when they appeared in court. The fourth suspect appeared in court in a wheelchair with apparently limited ability to respond; a leaked copy of his passport suggests he is also a citizen of Tajikistan.
U.S. officials said the attack had been conducted by the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility and released photos of what it said where the attackers and video of the attack itself. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia blamed the assault on “international terrorism” but did not mention the Islamic State. Russian state media laid the groundwork for blaming Ukraine, which denied any involvement.
Despite carrying out one of Russia’s deadliest terrorist attacks in decades, the gunmen seen in the footage did not appear to be highly trained, according to Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which is based in Philadelphia. He said the men seemed to be grouped together during the attack, instead of spreading out and potentially inflicting more damage.
The suspects also did not change their clothes after the massacre, and appeared to have fled in the same vehicle they used to arrive at the scene, both of which would make it easier for the authorities to track them down and link them to the scene.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, a top law enforcement agency, said on Saturday that the suspects had been detained near the city of Bryansk, about 230 miles southwest of Moscow, and that weapons had been recovered from a Renault car. Mr. Putin claimed the men had been trying to escape toward the border with Ukraine.
A video verified by The Times shows at least one suspect, Mr. Rachabalizoda, being marched through the woods to the M3 highway near Bryansk. A photograph also verified by The Times shows a heavily damaged white Renault nearby.
Mr. Rachabalizoda was filmed being detained in the woods, a couple of hundred yards from the car, and identifying himself under questioning.
A video of his arrest shared on Telegram shows men cutting off a part of Mr. Rachabalizoda’s right ear and stuffing it into his mouth before leading him out of the woods. State media later published a video interrogation of Mr. Rachabalizoda that shows his ear is heavily bandaged.
In each of the videos, he is wearing clothes identical to those worn by one of the Crocus City Hall attackers.
Mr. Rachabalizoda wears the brown T-shirt with the distinctive logo and pants with a Boss label; they match the clothes worn by a gunman in the Islamic State video and photograph.
The Russian authorities identified a second suspect who was detained and interrogated as Mr. Fariduni.
During his questioning, Mr. Fariduni is seen wearing a gray collared T-shirt matching that worn by one of the four men in the Islamic State photograph.
The shoes worn by Mr. Fariduni during his interrogation also match those worn by one of the assailants seen in the Islamic State video of the attack; they bear the same distinctive white marking and thick soles.
Mr. Fariduni says during his interrogation that he traveled to Russia from Turkey on March 4, the footage showed. Several photographs posted to what appears to be his Instagram and Facebook accounts in February showed Mr. Fariduni at the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul.
A third suspect, Mr. Fayzov, is a 19-year-old barber who appears to have lived in Russia since last year, according to his profile on the Russian social media platform VKontakte.
A short video that circulated on the Telegram social media platform shows him being interrogated in a hospital room, where he speaks Tajik and discusses receiving documents at an airport.
A leaked copy of his passport — bearing a face that matches one both in the VKontakte profile and in videos of the detained suspect — suggests he is from Tajikistan. The passport notes that he recently arrived in Russia and lived in Ivanovo, which corresponds with his VKontakte profile.
After his detention, Mr. Fayzov was photographed wearing a green T-shirt with a distinctive, dotted logo on the left breast, the same T-shirt worn by one of the men in the photograph of the assailants released by the Islamic State. Mr. Fayzov also wears the same T-shirt in a photograph posted to his VKontakte account.
A fourth suspect, Mr. Mirzoyev, spoke Tajik through an interpreter during an interrogation that was broadcast on Russian state television. The bearded man also appears to have been beaten during his detention, and his cheek, nose and forehead were bruised and bloodied.
In the video, Mr. Mirzoyev is seen wearing a long-sleeved, crew-neck green shirt, bluejeans and a black belt; they match the attire of one of the attackers in the Islamic State video.
In the ISIS video, the assailant slices the throat of a victim who is lying on the ground, apparently unconscious.
Dmitriy Khavin and Oleg Matsnev contributed reporting. David Botti contributed production.
Source Agencies
