DUSHANBE, April 12. /TASS/. The terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall was carried out to shake the unity of Russia and sow division among different nationalities, Russian ambassador to Tajikistan Semyon Grigoryev said at the opening of the St. John's readings at the Russian-Tajik (Slavic) University in Dushanbe.

"The Tajiks were purposely chosen as its perpetrators. <...> Their goal was to bring xenophobic and migrantophobic sentiments into Russian society, to destroy the interethnic and interreligious peace that was formed over many years through great efforts," Grigoriev emphasized. In his opinion, the people behind the terrorist attack are ignorant to the history, traditions and roots that bind the Russian and Tajik peoples together.

Grigoriev noted that Western models of fomenting interethnic strife do not work in Russia, and sometimes have an opposite effect. "This happens because historical thinking is peculiar to a truly spiritual person, and the West has lost its spirituality, its roots and demonstratively opposes itself to the rest of humanity, unfairly assuming the role of a world judge and the verdict of the world's fates," he explained.

Grigoryev also thanked the Tajik residents who came to the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe and the Russian Consulate in Khujand after the terrorist attack to express their condolences. "As long as our nations remain the bulwark of traditional values on which human relations are built, we are invincible to our enemies. No turbulence can shake our foundations," the diplomat summarized.

The 6th International St. John's Educational Readings "Orthodoxy, Islam and National Culture: Losses and Gains of the Past, Image of the Future" are organized with the support of the Tajik Ministry of Education and Science, the Russian Embassy in Tajikistan, and the Council of Ulema (theological scholars) of the Islamic Center of Tajikistan. The event focuses on religion's influence in forming and preserving traditions, as well as cultural and spiritual values in society.

On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, just outside the Moscow city limits. According to the latest data, 144 people were killed and 551 suffered injuries. Eleven people, including four direct perpetrators, have been arrested in the case of the terrorist attack. The Russian Investigative Committee said that investigators had found evidence of the attackers’ connection to Ukrainian nationalists.