"Death for death," Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said of Friday's mass shooting, while implying that Russia would retaliate if Ukraine had been involved, according to Russian-state media TASS News.
"Terrorists understand only retaliatory terror," Medvedev said. "No courts will help if force is not countered by force, and deaths by total executions of terrorists and repressions against their families.
"If it is established that these are terrorists of the Kyiv regime, it is impossible to do otherwise. All of them must be found and mercilessly destroyed as terrorists, including officials of the state that committed such an atrocity."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that a statement about a shooting near Moscow from the office of the UN Secretary-General had been too weak.
She said the statement, which spoke of being saddened by the violence, was insufficient.
Former president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said, "Terrorists understand only retaliatory terror. No courts will help if force is not countered by force and deaths by total executions of terrorists and repressions against their families."
"If it is established that these are terrorists of the Kyiv regime, it is impossible to do otherwise. All of them must be found and mercilessly destroyed as terrorists, including officials of the state that committed such an atrocity," he told Russian state news agency TASS.
Ukraine denies involvement
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday that Kyiv had nothing to do with Friday's attack by gunmen at a Moscow concert hall.
"Let's be straight about this: Ukraine had absolutely nothing to do with these events," Podolyak said in a video message posted on Telegram.
"We have a full-scale, all-out war with the Russian regular army and with the Russian Federation as a country. And regardless of everything, everything will be decided on the battlefield," Podolyak said.
International reactions
The White House said that images of shooting in the Russian capital were hard to watch.
"The images are just horrible and just hard to watch and our thoughts obviously are going to be with the victims of this terrible, terrible shooting attack," White House spokesman John Kirby said.
The US embassy in Russia warned earlier this month that "extremists" had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.
The US Embassy in Moscow said on Friday it was shocked by a mass shooting near Moscow and expressed its condolences to the Russian people.
The embassy in a statement advised US citizens to avoid the area where the shooting took place.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, expressed condolences to the victims of the shooting. Navalnaya wrote on her account on the X social network that all those involved in this crime must be found and brought to justice.
Turkey condemned the shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert center on Friday near Moscow, calling it a terrorist attack, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attack at the concert hall near Moscow that killed at least 40 people, a spokesperson said on Friday.
"The Secretary-General conveys his deep condolences to the bereaved families and the people and the Government of the Russian Federation. He wishes those injured a speedy recovery," Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a statement.
UN Security Council condemns "heinous and cowardly terrorist attack" at the concert hall in Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack on Friday at a concert hall near Moscow, calling it a "terrorist attack." Macron, in a statement, said he "firmly condemns this terrorist attack, claimed by the Islamic State." He said in the statement that France stands in solidarity with the victims of the shooting