MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Russia expects the terrorist attack that has taken place at the Crocus City Hall shopping mall and entertainment center near Moscow, to be strongly condemned by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) whose assembly is starting work on these days in Geneva, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament, or "senate") Vice Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, who heads the delegation, said.
"I have informed President of the IPU Tulia Ackson about what happened, saying that we expect strong condemnation of the terrific terrorist attack by the Union. I have had a meeting with IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong, enlisting his support," the senator wrote on his Telegram channel.
On March 23, the Russian delegation will insist "on positioning of the IPU in this tragedy at all events of the assembly preceding the main agenda," first of all at women’s and youth’s forums, he added. Moreover, the parliamentarians intend to get "the official reaction of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the first plenary meeting within the 148th assembly" on March 24.
A terrorist attack was carried out at the Crocus City Hall music venue in the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow on Friday evening. Unidentified gunmen armed with assault rifles went on a shooting spree. An explosion rocked the building, starting a fire. The special services are conducting a search operation. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin canceled all mass events in the capital in the next two days, and a number of other Russian regions followed suit.