Putin gives first public comments on Moscow terror attack as country observes day of mourning

Russia lowers flags to half-mast for a day of mourning after scores of people were gunned down with automatic weapons at a rock concert outside Moscow in the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades.

President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning after pledging to track down and punish all those behind the attack, which left 133 people dead, including three children, and more than 150 injured.

“I express my deep, sincere condolences to all those who lost their loved ones,” Putin says in an address to the nation on Saturday, his first public comments on the attack. “The whole country and our entire people are grieving with you.”

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, but Putin has not publicly mentioned the terrorist group in connection with the attackers, who he claimed had been trying to escape to Ukraine. He asserted that some on “the Ukrainian side” had prepared to spirit them across the border.

Ukraine has repeatedly denied any role in the attack, which Putin also blamed on “international terrorism.”