Russia tries to cast fresh doubt on claim ISIS carried out Moscow attack – after TORTURING suspects by electrocuting their genitals and forcing one to eat his own EAR: Moscow says the West are blaming ‘bogeyman’ jihadists after Putin ignored US warning

Russia has cast fresh doubt on ISIS claiming responsibility for the Moscow concert massacre that killed nearly 140 people, the deadliest attack on the nation’s soil in years. 

Four ISIS terrorists were charged overnight with terrorism, after they were caught, allegedly tortured and detained by Russian security services following the deadly attack at a Moscow concert hall on Friday night. 

ISIS twice claimed responsibility for the attack over the weekend, first posting a selfie taken by the four men, all of whom are Russian citizens, in front of an ISIS flag before posting a 90-second selfie video of the devastating attack from the terrorists’ perspective. 

But Russian authorities again tried to discredit the direct claims made by the terror group. 

In a piece published in Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called ISIS’ claims of responsibility into question, instead pushing blame for the attack on the West. 

‘Attention – a question to the White House: Are you sure it’s ISIS? Might you think again about that’, she wrote. 

Zakharova said the United States was spreading a version of the ‘bogeyman’ of Islamic State to cover its ‘wards’ in Kyiv and reminded readers that Washington supported the ‘mujahideen’ fighters who fought Soviet forces in the 1980s.  

President Vladimir Putin has not publicly mentioned the Islamist militant group in connection with the attackers, who he said had been trying to escape to Ukraine.

Putin said some people on ‘the Ukrainian side’ had been prepared to spirit the gunmen across the border. Ukraine has denied any role in the attack and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Putin of seeking to divert blame for the concert hall attack by referring to Ukraine.

Zakharova’s article came as footage of Russian forces torturing the men they arrested over the Moscow terror attack emerged, with one man given electric shocks to his genitals and a second forced to eat his own ear.

One image shows a suspect named as Shamsuddin Fariddun foaming at the mouth as he lies on a gym floor with his trousers pulled down and wires attached to his groin area. At the other end they are attached to a military radio powered by an 80-volt battery.

Separate video sees another man, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, having his ear severed and then spitting it out as he is forced to eat it.

The two suspects are among four men detained in western Russia after Friday’s terror attack on a packed Moscow concert hall that left at least 140 people dead.

All four appeared in court in the Russian capital and were paraded showing cuts and bruises as the authorities attempt to deliver a message to the shocked nation.

New footage filed inside the Crocus City Hall venue in Krasnogorsk also emerged, showing people running and cowering behind tables as the gunmen open fire in the main lobby of the building. People can be heard screaming as continuous bullets break through glass doors and mow down victims in what was the deadliest attack on Russia in years.

The four suspected terrorists, who have been photographed and named in the Russian media, were seen arriving in an unmarked white van before they entered the concert hall at around 8pm.

Photographs show suspect Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizod with a bandage strapped to his severed ear as he sits behind a glass wall at the Basmanny district court in Moscow. Any confessions made after such forms of torture can not be treated as reliable. 

Videos previously emerged on social media of the suspects being arrested – with one shaking on his knees and apparently confessing to carrying out the attack.

It appears that the barbaric treatment of these suspects is being deliberately leaked to the media, as the pictures were released to Telegram channels sympathetic to the security services. 

A telegram channel linked to Wagner paramilitary force said the picture of Fariddun shows how ‘an ordinary interrogation takes place using a military field telephone TA-57, in common parlance ‘Tapik’.

‘By turning the coil…discharges are released through the wires… up to 80 volts, which in turn are connected to the prisoner by the fingers, ears or genitals…

‘For best effect, the captured militant should be poured with water.’

The photo follows an incident when one of the suspect’s ears was cut off on camera with a knife when he was detained in Bryansk region on Sunday. 

A video shows a Russian agent trying to force the suspect to eat the ear, which he spits out. 

In another video, the same suspect has his head bandaged and his face is covered in blood.  

The favoured method of disposing of ‘traitors’ by Wagner – headed by former Putin crony Yevgeny Prigozhin – was with a sledgehammer to the head, videos of which were also released.

Human rights group gulagu.net – which highlights widespread torture in Putin’s jails – said: ‘For more than 10 years, we have been consistently exposing torture and its systemic nature in Russia.

‘It is obvious that sanctions for these tortures, as well as for the torture of Ukrainian prisoners, are given from the very top…

‘The same as with Prigozhin using a sledgehammer… an executor of the will of the murderer and dictator Vladimir Putin. If there is all the evidence and [it] has been collected, why should the FSB torture the Tajiks?

‘So that they take the blame and voice a version [of the atrocity] convenient for Putin and the FSB?’

Fariddun was allegedly seen staking out Crocus City Hall on March 7 when he was pictured at the venue.

This coincided with a warning from the US and UK embassies in Moscow about the imminent threat of a strike on a crowded venue.

Fariddun was seen on his knees after being detained in Bryansk region on Saturday.

Exiled journalist Dmirty Kolezev – editor of Republic media – said: ‘The Russian security forces are leaking photos showing that detained terrorist attack suspects are being tortured with electric shocks by tying wires to their genitals.

‘I have no doubt that after this there will be admissions that the order to kill people in Crocus was given to them personally by Zelensky.

‘Torture is, unfortunately, commonplace. What is unusual here is that the security forces used to bashfully hide this. But now they are proud of it and, apparently, they themselves release photographs of torture to friendly Telegram channels.’

Vladimir Putin declared March 24 a day of nationwide mourning, as he was recorded lighting a candle before a crucifix and crossing himself three times in a church located in the territory of the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo. 

Britain accused Putin of using a ‘smokescreen of propaganda to defend an utterly evil invasion’ after he suggested Ukraine was behind the Moscow terrorist attack. 

Russian authorities said at least three children were among the 137 dead, with the numbers expected to rise as others were gravely injured.

Putin was silent for a whole day before he made a statement saying the gunmen were apprehended ‘travelling towards Ukraine where, according to preliminary information, they had a window to cross the border’. Yesterday he lit a candle in a church at his residence of Novo-Ogaryovo in memory of all the victims.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told Sky News: ‘I think we have very little confidence in anything the Russian government says. They are creating a smokescreen of propaganda to defend an utterly evil invasion of Ukraine.

‘That doesn’t mean that it’s not a tragedy when innocent people lose their lives, when you have horrible bombings.

‘But I take what the Russian government says with an enormous pinch of salt.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin was more concerned about pinning the attack on Kyiv than reassuring his own citizens.

Russian state media showed footage of at least three suspects, who are blindfolded and handcuffed, being taken in for investigation over the attack.

Earlier, Moscow-aligned Telegram channels appeared to show their arrests, with one man apparently confessing to the killings.

US intelligence sources said a branch of IS known as Islamic State Khorasan Province is most likely to be responsible.

Two of the gunmen also reportedly appeared at a Moscow district court yesterday.

One of the suspects was led blindfolded into the courtroom. When his blindfold was removed, a black eye was visible. 

Separate footage has shows the arsenal left behind by the gunmen who staged the bloodbath at the Crocus City Hall that left at least 137 people dead. 

Officers said they found four sets of combat ammunition, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and 28 magazines at the scene of the massacre. 

Two Kalashnikov assault rifles were also recovered from the concert hall.

Shots were first fired at people waiting in the foyer before the killers made their way to the concert hall area. 

After shooting at concert-goers the suspected ISIS terrorists set the building on fire, causing the roof to collapse. 

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and it is thought the men were members of for ISIS-K, an offshoot of the terrorist organisation. 

The group released a sickening 90-second selfie after the attack that is too graphic for MailOnline to share.

The clip, described by the terror group as ‘exclusive scenes… of the bloody attack on Christians yesterday in the city of Krasnogorsk in Moscow’, begins with one terrorist holding a knife running into the main hall of Crocus City Hall.

The man filming the video twice says: ‘Bring the machine gun. Kill them and have no mercy on them.’

Another man carrying what appears to be a yellow and black machine gun then runs into the hall and begins firing wildly in all directions.

The gun appears to match up with images released by Russian authorities of the aftermath of the attack.

The gunman filming the sick attack can be heard saying: ‘The infidels will be defeated, God willing. God is great. The infidels will be defeated. We went out for the sake of God and to seek His religion.’

The four heavily armed men are then seen slowly walking away from the entrance to the main hall.

It has been alleged that one of the suspected killers staked out the Crocus City Hall venue more than two weeks ago.

This was almost exactly at the time the US and UK embassies warned of an impending risk of a strike in the Russian capital.

The revelation emerged as footage was revealed purporting to show dictator Vladimir Putin in his office as he was told of the atrocity.

Suspect Shamsuddin Fariddun, from Tajikistan, was caught on camera by a photographer at Crocus City Hall on March 7, it has been claimed. 

Nearly 140 people were killed and around 150 more were injured in the attack. 

One of the vicitms has been confirmed by the Russian Health Ministry as 42-year-old former beauty queen Ekaterina Novoselova.

Another victim was Natalia Zudina, 44, a graduate of the Ural State Economics University, who was originally from Yekaterinburg.

An eight-year-old boy has been listed as among those injured and is said to be in a critical condition in hospital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced March 24 as a day of national mourning in an address that was televised to the country, according to Russian news agency Tass.

Despite ISIS’s claims of responsibility, Putin was quick to blame Ukraine for the horror attack. 

But the US was quick to rebuff these allegations. ‘ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,’ National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.