Trial begins for suspects in Moscow concert hall attack that killed 149 people
President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have claimed, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine had a role in the attack.
Kyiv has strongly denied any involvement.
The Investigative Committee, Russia's top criminal investigation agency, said in June that it concluded that the attack had been 'planned and carried out in the interests of the current leadership of Ukraine in order to destabilise political situation in our country'.
It also noted the four suspected gunmen tried to flee to Ukraine afterwards.
The four, all identified as citizens of Tajikistan, were arrested hours after the attack and later appeared in a Moscow court with signs of being severely beaten.
The committee said earlier this year that six other suspects were charged in absentia and placed on Russia's wanted list for allegedly recruiting and organising the training of the four.
Other defendants in the trial were accused of helping them.
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Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump could meet Putin over Ukraine as soon as next week, official says
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Aug 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. maintained plans to impose secondary sanctions on Friday in an effort to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting U.S. and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since World War Two by invading Ukraine. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 and make no secret of their contempt for each other. The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intends to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Zelenskiy. "The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, responding to the report. A Trump-Putin meeting could take place as soon as next week, the White House official said. A German government spokesperson said Trump provided information about the status of the talks with Russia during a call with the German chancellor and other European heads of government. The details emerged following a meeting on Wednesday between Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump said had achieved "great progress." It comes two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil. The White House official said that while the meeting had gone well and Moscow was eager to continue engaging with the United States, secondary sanctions that Trump has threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented on Friday. No details were provided. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox Business' "Kudlow" later on Wednesday that more had to be done to reach an agreement between the parties. "Today was a good day, but we got a lot of work ahead," he said. "There's still many impediments to overcome, and we hope to do that over the next few days and hours." A Kremlin aide earlier said Witkoff held "useful and constructive" talks with Putin on Wednesday. The two met for around three hours on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the two sides had exchanged "signals" on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details until Witkoff had reported back to Trump. Zelenskiy said he believed pressure had worked on Russia and Moscow was now more amenable to a ceasefire. "It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire. The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the U.S.," Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. Writing separately on the X social media platform, Zelenskiy said he had discussed Witkoff's visit to Russia with Trump, adding that he had reiterated Ukraine's support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself. "Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started," Zelenskiy said, adding that European leaders had joined the call with Trump. Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington's European allies following Witkoff's meeting. Trump took a key step toward punitive measures on Wednesday when he imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil. No similar order was signed for China, which also imports Russian oil. The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the steepest faced by any U.S. trading partner. The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal. Ushakov, who was present at the meeting, told Russian news outlet Zvezda that "signals" on Ukraine were exchanged by both sides. Bloomberg and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported that the Kremlin might propose a moratorium on airstrikes by Russia and Ukraine - an idea mentioned last week by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting with Putin. Such a move, if agreed, would fall well short of the full and immediate ceasefire that Ukraine and the U.S. have been seeking for months. But it would offer some relief to both sides. Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks "disgusting." Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday that a full ceasefire and a leaders' summit were required. "The war must stop and for now this is on Russia," he posted on Telegram. Putin is unlikely to bow to Trump's sanctions ultimatum because he believes he is winning the war and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the U.S., three sources close to the Kremlin have told Reuters. The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin was sceptical that yet more U.S. sanctions would have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump could meet Putin as early as next week, White House official says
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as next week — their first meeting since Trump's return to office in January — a White House official said on Wednesday. The official said a location for the possible meeting had yet to be determined. Separately, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Russian leader expressed a desire to meet Trump. She said Trump was open to meeting both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The New York Times, which was first to report the possible meeting, said Trump would hold a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskiy after meeting the Russian leader. A source familiar with the discussions said Trump told European leaders that he would meet Putin. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged having spoken with European leaders after what Trump called a "highly productive" meeting his special envoy Steve Witkoff had with Putin in Russia. While noting that great progress was made during the meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come." Trump, who promised to end Russia's three-year-old war in Ukraine on "Day One" of his second term, has since returning to office in January had several phone calls with Putin and met with Zelenskiy at the White House in February and on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in April. In recent weeks, Trump has voiced increasing frustration with Moscow over a lack of progress towards ending the conflict and has set a Friday deadline for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Ukraine war: Twisted wreckage shows sanctions haven't yet stopped Russia
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western nations have imposed far-reaching sanctions on the aggressor, in a bid to stymy its war on the ground here in Ukraine, these sanctions seem to have limited outside Kharkiv, at a secret location, lies a collection of twisted metal remnants from attacks in and around the city. It's a scrapyard of savagery - the remains of many of the Russian bombs, rockets, missiles and drones used to hit in and around Kharkiv over the past three and a half years."This is the material evidence with which we, as prosecutors, will prove the guilt of Russia in committing war crimes," Dymtro Chubenko of the Kharkiv Region Prosecutor's Office tells me. Every piece of rocket and drone here has been carefully collected and shows me one of the latest editions – a Russian version of Iran's Shaheed drone. Russia has recently been firing hundreds of these Kamikaze drones at Ukraine's towns and cities. They're relatively cheap to make, he tells me – about $20,000 (£15,000) points to the nearby carcass of a Russian cruise missile. He says these cost these weapons are not fully Russian-made - they contain "many components from western nations," Dmytro says. "It's possible [for Russia] to circumvent sanctions, but doing nothing is not an option either," he adds. Donald Trump appears to have lost patience with President Vladimir Putin. After early efforts at rapprochement between the US and Russia, the US president has now threatened to boost sanctions on the Kremlin unless Russia agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine by this Friday. Trump has said secondary sanctions will also come into force that day, affecting any country trading with Russia. He has already imposed an additional 25% tariff on India for buying Russian oil. US envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday for talks ahead of the looming if President Trump chooses to impose more sanctions on the Kremlin, would it be enough to force Russia to change course in this war? Dymtro believes hitting Russian oil and gas exports could have a significant economic impact."We will not be able to stop it with a snap of our fingers, but we need to do it, we need to act," he says. There is hope that President Trump might just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, has borne the brunt of many strikes throughout the war. Thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Throughout the region almost 3,000 civilians have been killed, 97 of them Colonel Serhii Bolvinov shows me the burnt-out shell of the police headquarters he used to work in. A Russian strike in 2022 killed three of his officers as well as six civilians. He points to the gaping hole in the wall where the missiles entered. Russian tactics, he says, haven't changed. "Russia tries to hit and kill as many civilians as they can." Colonel Bolvinov's job is to investigate every single civilian death. He's leaving no stone unturned. He has 1,000 men and women working for him, now dispersed in basement offices right across the city. They're carrying out painstaking forensic work to build a criminal case against those responsible. Photographs of Russian military officers who've been tied to specific attacks are plastered across the wall – the another building, crime scene investigators carry out DNA tests to identify the latest casualties – Ukrainian civilians killed in a Russian rocket attack as they queued up to collect water. Colonel Bolvinov shows me footage from strike - unrecognisable charred bodies lie on the ground."It's hard to do this work, but it's very important work for future justice for us, for the Ukrainian people," he says. He shows me a three-dimensional computer image of a mass grave in Izium where more than 400 bodies were discovered. "Some of the cases leave a scar on all of us, and we will never forget this trauma," he Bolvinov says he wants to see an end to this war. He hopes President Trump's increasing pressure on President Putin will work. But the police chief doesn't want peace at any price. "Peace without justice, is not really peace," he says. Even if a ceasefire can be agreed, it still won't address the wounds of most Ukrainian people. At a cemetery outside Kharkiv is another reminder of the cost of the war: the ever-growing ranks of dead Ukrainian soldiers. Each grave is marked by the blue and gold of the national flag. The silence here is only broken by the sound of them flapping in the in the civilian section of the cemetery, a mother and her family are placing flowers on their daughter's grave. Sofia was just 14 years old when a Russian glide bomb took her life last year. She was sitting on a park bench in Kharkiv, enjoying the warm summer afternoon with a friend.I ask her mother Yulia if President Trump's increasing pressure on Russia can bring any comfort, but she's not optimistic."These conversations have already been going on too long," she tells me."But so far there are no results… Hope is fading."
