The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) has confirmed that South African embassy staff and students who are based in Russia are safe following a terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall.
On the evening of March 22, a group of terrorists targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow.
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According to the latest data from the authorities in Moscow, the death toll is currently 133 while 154 people were injured.
“The South African Embassy staff in Moscow, including local recruited personnel, are all accounted for. All South African students that we know of in Moscow are safe. The South African government condemns this attack and all acts of terror,” said the department’s spokesperson Clayson Monyela on social media platform X.
Eleven suspects involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four hitmen who were allegedly trying to make off heading towards the Ukrainian border.
President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had been preparing “a gap” in the border for the terrorists to cross it.
Putin vowed to identify and hold to account all those behind the attack, declaring March 24 a day of nationwide mourning.
