Crocus City Hall attack

On 22 March 2024, at around 20:00 MSK, a coordinated terrorist attack struck the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia, shortly before the Russian band Picnic was scheduled to perform a sold-out show. Four attackers armed with AK-style assault rifles, knives, and incendiary devices carried out a mass shooting and slashing attack on the crowd, then set the venue on fire. Investigators reported 151 people killed, including those who later died in hospital, and more than 609 injured by gunfire or burns. Children and teenagers attending a ballroom dancing competition were also present in the building at the time.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility shortly after the attack via its Amaq News Agency, with its Afghanistan-based branch, Islamic State – Khorasan Province (IS–KP/ISIS-K), assessed as most likely responsible. Amaq also released a video, filmed by one of the attackers, showing the shooting and throat-slitting of a victim while an assailant recited religious phrases condemning "infidels." Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a "barbaric terrorist act," declared 24 March 2024 a national day of mourning, and said the gunmen had been arrested, while also seeking to link the attackers to Ukraine — a claim Ukraine and Western officials rejected. The attack was the deadliest on Russian soil since the 2004 Beslan school siege.

The four alleged gunmen — Dalerjon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Faizov, all identified as Tajik citizens — were captured on 22 March near the Bryansk Oblast village of Khatsun while allegedly fleeing toward the Ukrainian border. They appeared in Moscow's Basmanny District Court on 24 March charged with terrorism; three pleaded guilty at the hearing. All four showed visible signs of having been tortured in custody, including missing an ear and an eye. Additional suspects, including alleged accomplices who rented an apartment and a vehicle to the gunmen and others accused of financing or logistics, were subsequently detained and charged. A trial for 19 defendants began on 4 August 2025 at the 2nd Western District Military Court in Moscow. In December 2025, the court was told attackers had trained in Turkey and Afghanistan. On 12 March 2026, the court sentenced the four alleged gunmen and 11 accomplices to life imprisonment, and four others to up to 22.5 years' imprisonment for helping the attackers rent a vehicle and apartment.

US officials stated that intelligence had indicated an IS–KP plot against Moscow, including a specific warning about Crocus City Hall shared with Russian officials before the attack under the "duty to warn" framework; Russian officials characterized the warning as too general. French President Emmanuel Macron said French intelligence determined an Islamic State entity had organized and carried out the attack. In March 2025, a Russian Investigative Committee inquiry reportedly found no Ukrainian involvement, contrary to earlier public statements by Russian officials. The attack was followed by reports of increased anti-immigrant sentiment and harassment directed at Central Asian migrants, particularly Tajiks, within Russia.