Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time that "radical Islamists" were responsible for last week's attack on a concert hall outside Moscow. However, he suggested that Ukraine was also somehow involved, Al Jazeera reported.

Russian authorities have detained 11 people in connection with the March 22 attack on Crocus City Hall.

In a televised meeting on Monday, Putin said, "We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries."

"This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 at the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime," he said, referring to Ukraine, according to an Al Jazeera report.

Putin stressed that it was necessary to respond to that question. He asked, "Of course, it is necessary to answer the question, 'Why after committing the crime the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine?' Who was waiting for them there?"

Putin said the planned terrorist attack hoped to sow panic but it was met with unity and resolve to counter this evil, according to the transcript released on the Kremlin website. He did not mention ISIS which claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack.

He said, "We know whose hands were used to commit this atrocity against Russia and its people. We want to know who ordered it."

Since Friday, the Islamic State in Khorasan Province has said several times that it was behind the attack, and ISIL-affiliated media channels have released graphic videos of the gunmen during the attack. After ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, US intelligence has backed up its claims.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to assign blame and asked reporters to wait for the results of the probe in Russia, Al Jazeera reported. He even refused to comment on reports that the US warned authorities in Moscow on March 7 about a possible attack and said that any such intelligence is confidential. '

On Sunday, a Moscow court charged four men with carrying out a "terrorist" attack. At their court appearance, the gunmen showed signs of being severely beaten.

The four suspects, named by Russian authorities as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizodu, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov were tried in Basmanny Court in Moscow.

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All four are to be held in detention until at least May 22, the court said. One of the men charged with committing the terror attack is a Tajik national, TASS reported. All four are from Tajikistan and have been in Russia on either temporary or expired visas, CNN reported.