Russian leader Vladimir Putin held separate talks with his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad, as well as with the leaders of some former Soviet republics in Muslim-majority Central Asia, the main idea of ​​which, according to reports from the Kremlin, was: on closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism after the attack on a concert hall in Moscow, which killed 137 people and was claimed by the Islamic State.

According to one of the communiqués, Erdogan sent “deep and sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims” and “underscored the urgent need for closer bilateral cooperation in the fight against the terrorist threat,” News.ro reported.

In a conversation with Putin, Syrian leader Bashar Assad “wished all the best to the families and friends of the victims”, and the two leaders “agreed to intensify contacts (…) in the approach to the fight against terrorism”, it is reported. to the Kremlin.

Russia is the most powerful foreign power operating in Syria alongside Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey backs forces opposed to the Syrian president, but Islamic State is a common enemy.

The Kremlin said that on Saturday, Putin also held telephone conversations with the leaders of Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, during which all parties expressed a desire to work together in the fight against terrorism.

Also on Sunday, Putin talked with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

According to Russian mass media, some of the suspects in “Crocus City Hall” are from Tajikistan. However, the authorities of this Central Asian country stated that they “did not receive any confirmation from the Russian authorities” on this matter. On Sunday, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, called Vladimir Putin to express his deep condolences and feelings of solidarity with the Russian people in connection with the death of civilians as a result of a terrorist attack, the report said. According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon noted that the special services and specialized agencies of Russia and Tajikistan closely cooperate in the fight against terrorism, and this activity will be intensified.

Russia Today editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, one of the Kremlin’s propaganda figures, on Saturday published a video of the arrest of the suspects, in which one of them, a young bearded man, is aggressively interrogated on the side of the road, answering a series of questions in Russian with a strong foreign accent. He stated that he flew out of Turkey on March 4 and received an instruction via Telegram from unknown persons to carry out the attack in exchange for money. During the entire interrogation, the man was shaking. First, he was shown lying on his stomach with his hands tied behind his back, his chin resting on the boot of a camouflaged figure. Later he was brought up on his lap. Another man with cuts and bruises on his face was shown being interrogated through an interpreter, sitting on a bench with his hands and feet tied.

Condemning the “barbaric terrorist act,” Vladimir Putin vowed in a televised speech on Saturday to punish those responsible. The Russian leader said that the “four perpetrators” of the terrorist attack were detained “on the way to Ukraine”, and did not mention at all that the terrorist organization “Islamic State” claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier, the Kremlin announced the “detention of 11 people, including four terrorists involved in the terrorist attack.” These four “foreigners” were detained in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, according to the authorities. They would have connections with people from Ukraine who were going to facilitate their entry into this country.

Ukraine denies any involvement in the explosion at the Crocus concert hall, while Western and Ukrainian officials have warned that Moscow could use the attack to blame Kyiv and thus step up its aggressive intervention in Ukraine.