NIZHNY NOVGOROD, April 25. /TASS/. Citizens of several countries were involved in organizing the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, using cryptocurrency to bankroll it, Yury Chikhanchin, head of Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service, said.
"The investigation is still ongoing, but its preliminary results make it clear that the citizens of a number of countries were involved in organizing the terrorist attack. The attack was funded through numerous financial organizations and involved various instruments, including cryptocurrency," he pointed out at an international forum on countering money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The watchdog chief said earlier that many countries were willing to assist Russia in investigating the Crocus City Hall attack as they pledged their commitment to stopping the scourge of terrorism from growing.
According to Chikhanchin, the act of terrorism was intricately planned and it took an international network of conspirators to carry it out. The attackers were provided with funds, weapons, vehicles and ammunition, while their actions and retreat from the crime scene were carefully coordinated by their handlers.
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just outside the Moscow city limits. According to the latest data, 144 people were killed and 551 suffered injuries. All four perpetrators of the attack have been taken into custody, along with another five people who investigators believe were accomplices to the crime. Russia’s Investigative Committee says evidence has been found of the attackers’ link to Ukrainian nationalists.