“Stop torturing our prisoners,” the Islamic State tells Putin. He threatens another attack

The Islamic State is reportedly threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin with another terrorist attack. Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, reported on this on the X social network. According to him, the Iranian media, citing Al Azaim, IS-Khorasan propaganda network in Tajikistan, is spreading a poster with threats to Putin to protest against the torture of terrorists by Russian security forces.

“To all savage Russians. Stop torturing the prisoners of the Islamic State,” reads the poster posted by Gerashchenko. ISIS is allegedly threatening Russia with another attack. “Do not think that we have no opportunity to take revenge on you for our captive brothers,” the poster continued. However, Gerashchenko adds that the information about the threats has not been verified or confirmed.

According to Gerashchenko, the Islamic State is protesting the torture of terrorists captured by Russian security forces after the attack in Moscow with a poster with threats. Footage showing prisoners in an impoverished state is circulating on social media. Everyone has bruises and swelling on their faces. One of the suspects has a bandaged ear that was supposed to be cut off during his arrest and then forced to eat it. Another has a plastic bag around his neck. One of the detainees was brought to court in a wheelchair. Images have also appeared in which the alleged terrorist is lying on the ground with a device producing electric shocks inserted into his genitals.

Today, the Kremlin refused to comment on the investigation into Friday’s terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov left unanswered questions about the involvement of the Islamic State terrorist organization, which previously claimed responsibility, as well as questions about the impoverished condition of the suspects. Four of them appeared in court at the weekend, according to which they confessed to the crime. Peskov also said that Russia is not cooperating with any other country on the investigation.

The Crocus City Hall attack left at least 137 dead and nearly 200 injured. It is the deadliest such attack in Russia in a decade. Russian security forces announced on Saturday that they had caught the perpetrators. In total, they reported the arrest of 11 people, including four attackers. Moscow indicated their connection with neighboring Ukraine, but the terrorist organization Islamic State has repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attack. Kyiv strongly denied any involvement.

The topic of the press briefing in the Kremlin was also the death penalty, which has started to be discussed in Russia in recent days in connection with the punishments for perpetrators of terrorist acts. Peskov said that the presidential office does not participate in these discussions, but former Russian president and prime minister and current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, among others, called for the highest punishment. “They must be killed? They must. And they will,” he said in a telegram today. The death penalty has not been used in Russia since 1996, when the country joined the Council of Europe, and life imprisonment became the alternative.