Suspect Fariduni Shamsidin, one of four people detained in connection with last Friday’s deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall, reportedly shared photos from Istanbul just days before the harrowing incident that left at least 137 people dead.
Shamsidin, 25, used Instagram on 23 February to post several pictures showing different scenes around Istanbul’s Fatih Mosque, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Notably, Instagram is banned in Russia.
The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack and has circulated video evidence to support its claim.
A video purporting to show Russian security forces interrogating Shamsidin at the scene of the attack appeared online after the attack. In the video, Shamsidin confesses to being recruited for the Moscow attack, stating that he was contacted via Telegram and detailing his journey from Turkey on 4 March.
Shamsidin’s confession is consistent with the findings of Turkish journalist Hale Gonültaş, who has reported on the Khorasan branch of ISIS using Turkey as an operational base. This narrative is reinforced by recent ISIS attacks in Iran, believed to have been facilitated by Turkey.
The photos, shared just a month before the attack and predominantly tagged with the location ‘Aksaray, Istanbul’, depicted a tranquil morning with images of a lavish breakfast spread and poses inside the historic Fatih Mosque.
Following the incident, the Turkish government was accused of providing extensive support to ISIS. The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), a European coalition of Kurdish organisations, has claimed that the persistence of ISIS sleeper cells is due to Turkey’s use of them as a proxy force against the Kurds, with repercussions beyond the region, as evidenced by the Moscow attack.
In a separate statement, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) also accused the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of orchestrating and directing ISIS as a weapon against various opponents, including the Kurdish people and the Kurdish liberation movement in Syria, Iraq and Europe. The organisation portrayed the Moscow attack as part of a broader strategy by the Turkish government to impose its “neo-Ottoman ideology”.
Russian authorities have formally charged all four suspects, who are citizens of Tajikistan, including Shamsidin, with committing an act of terrorism. All four showed signs of physical abuse, with one brought to court in a wheelchair on Sunday.