Since the Friday terrorist attack happened in Russia, "it's the Russian authorities that ought to be briefing the world on what has happened," Mikatekiso Kubayi, political analyst from South African Institute for Global Dialogue, told Sputnik Africa.
"You can't now shift focus. Now you mustn't be listening to people who are not doing an investigation. They're from somewhere far away. And you don't listen to the ones that are doing the investigation who are at the scene of the crime," Kubayi noted.
The political analyst noted that as some might suggest, "the counter-narrative is meant to discredit whatever the suspects could potentially testify to" but "that's the advantage of having arrested all of them healthy and in one piece so that they can explain to everybody exactly what is going on."
"It's important for families, it's important for victims and to get to hear exactly what on earth is going on from the people that did it," he said.
Eleven people were detained in connection with the attack. Four of them, who according to the procecutors, are directly involved, were detained in the Bryansk Region, near the border with Ukraine, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
The events were called "bloody and barbaric" terrorist attack by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who declared March 24 a day of nationwide mourning for the victims.
*A terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.