All news

Detaining those who financed St.Petersburg blast to benefit Turkey too — Russian MP

According to the lawmaker, "Turkish law-enforcement officers should speed up their efforts, because solving the St. Petersburg crime will help Turkey to solve other terrorism-related cases"

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The soonest detention of those who financed the deadly blast in the metro of Russia’s second largest city St. Petersburg will benefit Turkey as well, a Rusisan lawmaker told TASS, commenting on reports that the bombing was financed by Turkey-based members of an international terrorist group.

"The Turkish side should also be interested in prompt investigation and detention of the terrorists… because, if they are found, it may emerge that their terrorist group committed crimes in Turkey as well, where dozens of terrorist attacks took place recently," said Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.

According to the lawmaker, "Turkish law-enforcement officers should speed up their efforts, because solving the St. Petersburg crime will help Turkey to solve other terrorism-related cases."

A blast ripped through a coach of a train moving between Tekhnologicheskiy Institut and Sennaya Ploshchad stations in the St Petersburg metro at around 14:40 on April 3. It claimed 14 lives and left over 50 people wounded. The terrorist who detonated the explosive device died, too. Later, one more bomb was defused on Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.

Russia's Investigative Committee identified Akbarjon Jalilov, a native of Kyrgyzstan, as the perpetrator. On April 6, the Committee reported that eight more suspects were detained, both in St Petersburg and in Moscow. The suspected organizer of the blast, Abror Azimov was arrested on April 18.

The Director of Russia's FSB state security service, Alexander Bortnikov, said earlier all the suspects were members of clandestine terrorist cells.

Judge Yelena Lenskaya said while reading out the decision to remand one of the suspects in custody that the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg was financed by members of an international terrorist group from Turkey. "According to the available evidence Akram Azimov personally received cash in Turkey for the terrorist attack," the judge said.