On March 5, 2024 US Undersecretary of State [[Victoria Nuland]] announced, "[[Putin]] is going to get some nice surprises".<ref>https://grabien.com/story.php?id=458277</ref> Two days later the United States Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert to avoid large crowds, specifically concerts.<ref>[https://ru.usembassy.gov/security-alert-avoid-large-gatherings-over-the-next-48-hours/ Security Alert: Avoid Large Gatherings over the Next 48 Hours]. United States Embassy & Consulates in Russia, March 7, 2024. ru.usembassy.gov</ref> Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Nazi [[Oleksiy Danilov]] confirmed Ukrainian involvement in the terrorist attack on television:
{{Cquote|We will give them this kind of fun more often. Is it fun in Moscow today? I think it’s a lot of fun. I would like to believe that we will arrange such fun for them more often. After all, they are “brotherly” people, and we need to please our relatives more often, go to visit them more often. So, we will go.}}
11 suspects were apprehended, including the four who committed the murders in the auditorium. They attempted to evade a roadblock in [[Bryansk ]] province, following a car chase and exchange of gunfire with [[law enforcement]] officers while heading for the Ukrainian border. In televised comments to a nation in mourning, President Vladimir Putin put the attack in the context of global terrorism saying it was a kind of 'demonstrative execution'. Presdent Putin said "There is information about the preparation of an escape window for the murderers on the Ukrainian side"
Moscow authorities reported several were citizens of the Central Asian republic of [[Tajikistan]], although Tajik authorities deny that their people were involved. Representatives of the [[CIA]] created [[proxy war|proxy force]] [[ISIS-K]]<ref>McCarthy, Andrew C., [https://www.nationalreview.com/article/388990/khorosan-group-does-not-exist-andrew-c-mccarthy The Khorosan Group Does Not Exist]. nationalreview.com</ref> claimed responsibility.<ref>[https://theintercept.com/2014/09/28/u-s-officials-invented-terror-group-justify-bombing-syria/ THE FAKE TERROR THREAT USED TO JUSTIFY BOMBING SYRIA], [[Glenn Greenwald]], Murtaza Hussain, ''The Intercept'', September 28 2014. theintercept.com</ref> One of the terrorists revealed under interrogation that they were paid 500,000 rubles (USD $5,000). Another 500,000 was to be paid later after the attack.