Press Release, 23.04.2024

Photo: Crocus City Hall after a fire as a result of the terrorist attack on 22 March, 2024 / Photo by Dmitry Lebedev, Kommersant

The head of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, Maxim Kruglov, received a response from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation about the reasons for the mass death of people due to a fire as a result of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall on 22 March, 2024. The ministry reports that investigative actions are currently underway, including on the issues of putting the facility into operation, its functioning, finishing of the premises and the operability of all fire protection systems. In addition, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that it had supported amendments to legislative acts related to improving the activities of the federal state fire supervision. The bill was introduced to the State Duma after the tragedy in the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall in Kemerovo in March 2018. Then the fire claimed the lives of 64 people. At the same time, it follows from the response of the Ministry of Emergency Situations that the bill introducing the definition of “a facility with a large number of people” and stipulating that state construction supervision at these facilities should be carried out with the participation of specialists from fire supervision authorities, has not yet been adopted. According to the information system of the State Duma web-site, the amendments to the legislation “stuck” at the second reading stage.

It should be noted that 145 people were killed and 551 people were injured in the terrorist attack at the Crocus exhibition centre on 22 March, 2024. The main causes of death were gunshot wounds and poisoning by combustion products.

Maxim Kruglov, a deputy of the Moscow City Duma and Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, sent an inquiry to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, in which he called on Minister Alexander Kurenkov to give a public assessment of the causes of death due to the fire in Crocus City Hall.

Deputy Kruglov also asked the minister to organise a systematic check of compliance with fire safety requirements of all buildings and structures that involve large simultaneous presence of people – from shopping malls to concert halls.

Answers to a number of questions that Kruglov asked the official will be given only after the investigation is completed. However, it is already clear that the State Duma has not taken any action to ensure fire safety at facilities with large numbers of people.

“It is amazing that in its response the Ministry of Emergency Situations refers to a bill that State Duma deputies have not bothered to adopt for several years.

It turns out that no conclusions were drawn after the tragedy in the Zimyaya Vishnya shopping mall, nothing has changed.

Taking this into account, I believe that all the questions raised in the appeal of the Yabloko faction of the Moscow City Duma about the reasons for the death of people as a result of a terrible fire which happened due to the terrorist attack are correct; the authorities have no answers to them. No one is protected from such new tragedies. We will insist on the adoption and implementation of systemic measures to correct the situation,” Maxim Kruglov commented.

MAXIM KRUGLOV
is a Deputy Chairman of Yabloko,
a member of the Federal Bureau of the Party,
Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko,
head of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma,
Candidate of Political Sciences.