More Crocus weirdness
And open thread. And puppies.
Greetings internet friends,
Edward’s world-famous weekly Russia-related news roundup will arrive in your inbox in the next few days, but not today, on Sunday, when it should have arrived. Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Please remember though that you can always navigate the world of Russian-language media on your own using our nifty Guide to Russian Media to help you on your magic info-journey. Also, check out this Mail.ru list of Russian news outlets ranked by monthly views. A very useful resource.
There’s also some new Russia-WHO drama that I want to discuss in detail—stay tuned for that. But today is reserved for more Crocus strangeness and photos of puppies. Share your links and puppies in the comments section!
Explosions at Crocus
“A second explosion occurred in the Crocus City Hall in the Moscow region,” Interfax—which is sort of like Russian Reuters—reported at 21:37 on the evening of March 22, citing “intelligence services”.
The attack began at around 20:00 and the terrorists fled the scene fifteen minutes later, according to the official timeline of events.
According to Interfax, between 2-5 gunmen attacked the venue, targeting guards and then concertgoers. “After this there was an explosion and a fire started,” the news agency said.
The report also mentioned that the roof had partially collapsed 1.5 hours after the attack started. We’ll return to that info-morsel in a moment.
In the first two hours of the attack, media reports about the attack at Crocus City Hall were full of explosions:
The first explosion was reported by TASS around 30 minutes after the attack started (and 15 minutes after the gunmen escaped):
A second explosion was reported an hour later as rescue operations were underway:
“After the shooting, information appeared about smoke and an explosion in the complex, followed by a fire,” according to a Crocus attack factsheet published by TASS.
“Partial roof collapse” in less than 3 hours
Emin Agalarov, the US-educated pop star son of the oligarch who owns Crocus City Hall, claims he was at the site of the attack within 40 minutes of the first shots being fired—which means he reached Crocus City Hall before the National Guard arrived. According to Emin, thanks to the building’s fully functioning anti-fire features, the roof of the concert hall survived for six long hours before it collapsed:
But Russian media reports—including reports filed by state media—claim that the roof collapsed in under three hours.
The Moscow City News Agency reported at 20:49 on March 22:
In the Crocus City Hall building in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, where a fire occurred, the roof began to collapse. A source familiar with the situation reported this to the Moscow City News Agency.
“The entire roof of the building is engulfed in fire and the roof is collapsing. The fire has been assigned rank number three. Several people were cut off by fire,” the agency’s source said.
NTV reported at 20:58 that the roof was collapsing:
RIA Novosti reported at 22:04 that “the roof in the area of the Crocus City Hall stage, where the fire occurred, is collapsing”:
TASS corroborated the report 15 minutes later:
“A partial collapse of the roof occurred in the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, where a fire started after the shooting. As a TASS correspondent reports from the scene, the fire on the roof is still raging, and collapses are occurring in some places. The glass façade of the building is also crumbling,” TASS reported on March 22 at 22:18.
In conclusion, here are some puppies:
Listen here, Riley, if you're using those puppies as soft propaganda to gain popularity, let me just say... it's working. 🙂 P.S. Happy (Gregorian Calendar) Easter!
In the US when the Towers went down on 9/11, the businessman who had owned the buildings increased its "insurance value" quite substantially just before the horrific incident and in the end was given a ton of cash.
That being said, knowing that there has been a slew of terrorist attacks in the Moscow region security should've been on high alert at popular venues drawing large crowds.
Despite all that, this was truly tragic and could only be planned by sadistic psychopaths.