Russian Investigators Say Crocus City Hall Terrorists Planned to Travel to Kiev to Claim Reward

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov said Tuesday that the first information from Crocus City Hall terrorists reveals a Ukrainian track, and while radical Islamists had prepared the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, the Ukrainian special forces were behind it.
Sputnik
The terrorists of the Crocus City Hall attack drove towards the border with Ukraine to then travel to Kiev to claim their reward, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Friday.

"On the instructions of the coordinator, after committing the crime, the terrorists drove in a car towards the Russian-Ukrainian border for its subsequent crossing and arrival in Kiev to receive the promised reward. The investigation continues to carry out a set of investigative actions and operational measures to verify the involvement of representatives of the Ukrainian special services in the organization and financing of the terrorist attack," the Russian Investigative Committee said on Telegram.

The accused said that their actions were coordinated by a man under a pseudonym using voice messages via Telegram, the investigators added.

"The accused of committing a terrorist attack in their initial statements, during subsequent interrogations and other investigative procedures with their participation reported that their actions, both at the stage of preparation and after the armed attack in Crocus City Hall, were coordinated by voice messages via the Telegram messenger by a man who introduced himself to them under a pseudonym," the statement said.