MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. The Kremlin does not discuss the issue of lifting the moratorium on the death penalty, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"We are not taking part in this discussion at the moment," he said in response to a TASS question.
Earlier, some politicians came up with a proposal to reintroduce the death penalty in Russia. In particular, the leader of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, Vladimir Vasilyev, told reporters that the issue of introducing the death penalty for terrorism in Russia would be thoroughly worked out in order to finally make a decision on this matter that would meet the expectations of society. Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) parliamentary faction, wrote on his Telegram channel after the terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall that in such cases an exception could and should be made to the moratorium on its application.
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the current death toll is 137, but may rise. The Moscow Region Health Ministry said that 182 people were injured. Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were apprehended in the Bryansk Region as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border. President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared "a gap" in the border especially for the terrorists to cross. He promised to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack on Crocus City Hall and declared March 24 a day of national mourning for the victims.