UNITED NATIONS, March 26. /TASS/. The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) is ready to join an investigation into the terrorist attack that took place outside Moscow if it gets the relevant instructions, UNOCT Under-Secretary General Vladimir Voronkov told TASS.
"If there are the relevant instructions, the Office will certainly join this work. I hope that the UN Security Council holds a meeting on the issue. Such a meeting would be an important factor in promoting the investigation," he noted.
Voronkov added that combating terrorism was one of the prerogatives of national governments. According to him, "an international investigation is not mandatory; everything depends on the will and desire of a government."
Voronkov also considers that international cooperation is crucial for combating terrorism, which is a global threat.
"I believe that international cooperation in this field, primarily between intelligence agencies, is one of the most important factors to prevent the terrorist threat. Such cooperation used to be well-established and it remains effective in some parts of the world, while in others, it has declined. The international community’s mission is to develop collective solutions on the issue because terrorism is a global threat that knows no borders, and it will be impossible to defeat this scourge without international cooperation," he pointed out.
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. At least 139 people were killed and 182 suffered injuries. Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared "a window" in the border especially for the terrorists to cross undetected. He vowed to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack.