Comment: Putin has responded to the blasts in St. Petersburg by expressing patience in determining the cause, saying that "it's too early to talk about possible causes." That's a far cry from Western politicians and media who within hours are quick to pin blame on whatever bogeyman they wish to demonize.

Coincidentally, Putin was in St. Petersburg at the time of the explosion, to take part in the All-Russia People's Front media forum, and to speak with Belarusian president Lukashenko. Peskov denied media speculation that Putin was due to pass by the Sennaya Metro station around the time of the blast.

Updates:

Sputnik reports:

An improvised explosive device was found and made safe at the Ploshchad Vosstania metro station in St. Petersburg on Monday, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK) said.

"An improvised explosive device was found and timely destroyed at the Ploshchad Vosstania metro station," the NAK said in a statement.

The photo of the alleged improvised device defused at the Ploshchad Vosstania metro station.

According to the NAK, a blast at the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station in St. Petersburg killed at least nine and injured over 20 people earlier on Monday.

The Daily Mail reports that the suspect threw the explosive-containing bag into the train moments before it detonated. (Follow link for pictures of the scene.)

Other witnesses also described a man leaving a briefcase on one carriage before moving to another just seconds before the huge explosion.

As reports of the suspected terror attack trickled through to the capital, Moscow heightened its security and local reports suggest three metro stations - Nagatinskaja, Savelovskaya and Ugrezhskaya (CIP) - were cordoned off due to suspicious packages.

A witnesses told Russia's Life News: 'People were bleeding, their hair burned. We were told to move to the exit, because the movement stopped. People just fled. My girlfriend was in the next car that exploded. She said that he began to shake. When she came out, she saw that people were mutilated.'

Eight bodies were recovered from the carriage while two more were found on the platform and the final two killed were found in the tunnel.
...

Polina, who was in the carriage next to the where explosion erupted, said: 'There was quite a lot of people in the carriage: everyone was sitting, some were standing. The explosion occurred between Sennaya and Technological Institute stations. There was a deafening boom, and then a strong odour and smoke. We immediately went to another end of the car. It was very crowded. Everything was happening on the move, the train didn't stop. At Technological Institute everyone got off. We saw that the next car was teared apart, windows were broken, no lights, blood. People were dragged out of it, some were carried, some were walking with support. There was a lot of injured. I don't know if there were dead, we left in about two minutes.'

From the Telegraph: According to RBC, one of the main news agencies in St Petersburg, a man reportedly received a text message from a friend on the train who said: "There was an explosion on the track, a guy left his briefcase on the train car, exited the car, and moved to another train car. Just one car."

A source told Interfax that CCTV may have captured images of the suspect.

ISIS trolls are celebrating the attack:

"We ask Allah to bless the operation by the lions of the Caliphate, we ask Allah to kill the Crusaders," said an ISIS supporter from the terror group's al-Minbar online forum. Others celebrated by saying that the Monday bombs made for "a metro to hell for the worshipers of the Cross" and claimed that the attacks — which are still under investigation by Russian authorities — were revenge for Russia's backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fight against ISIS and other rebel groups in Syria's civil war. Russian airstrikes and shelling in Syria have killed hundreds of people and reduced entire areas to rubble.

CNN apparently agrees with ISIS, calling the attack a retaliation for Russia's actions in Syria. Oh, CNN, don't you know? Never go full jihadi. Max Abrahms makes a good point:


Russia Insider comments:

We thought Russia only bombed LGBTQ activists and sand dunes in Syria. What kind of "moderate" rebel would plant an IED in a subway car thousands of kilometers away from Syria?
...
As Bloomberg includes in one of its own reports about the tragic attacks:

Islamic State has repeatedly threatened to stage attacks in Russia in revenge for the Russian bombing in Syria that started in September 2015.

Which is ironic, because for the last two years, each and every day we have read about how Russia is targeting "moderate rebels" who are fighting "Assad's tyranny".

Now all of a sudden Russia is a primary target for "retaliation" from terrorist groups in Syria? This doesn't make sense if you believe the mainstream media narrative about Syria.

Update: An alleged CCTV still of the suspect has been released:
And amateur footage of the immediate aftermath of the explosion:

Piercing screams can be heard, as passengers prize open the metal doors, and clamber out of the blown-out windows. Some passersby, evacuating from the undamaged cars, stop to help the survivors of the blast.

"Give me your hand! Give me your hand!" shouts one man as he helps several people climb out.

Several immobile bodies are laid down in a row outside the train, and men clad in civilian clothing pull them further away from the twisted shell of the car.

"Horrible! Oh my God," says a voice in the background.

"Do you need any help? Shall I call you an ambulance?" asks a man with a blood-covered hand.

Some survivors wander about aimlessly, possibly still in shock from the impact.

A few of the passengers from the other coaches stop to help, others move hurriedly, but without panic, away from the scene of the explosion, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism. More wait around on the platform, unsure how to help, or filming with smartphones.

A woman, her face covered in blood and tears streaming down her face, repeats that she "was just sitting near the blast," as the author of the video implores her to calm down, and says that he will take her out into the fresh air, and then the recording stops.

The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case under the Terrorist Act. Warrants were issued for two people (no confirmation as of yet whether they are the same two in the alleged CCTV still).

Update: The man in the CCTV still turned himself in to the police after seeing his image on TV, and claimed that he is innocent. No word yet on the two suspects being sought.


Trump and Spicer both made statements:

"Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely, a terrible thing," Trump said when asked by journalists to comment on the St. Petersburg blast.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the US is ready to provide Russia assistance in investigating the St. Petersburg attack if needed.

"The US condemns this reprehensible attack and act of violence" in St. Petersburg, Spicer said, adding that such attacks "remind us that the world must work as one to combat violence in all forms."

The BBC is peddling conspiracy theories:


Update (April 4): In a predictable act of pettiness, European capitals are not lighting up their landmarks with the colors of the Russian flag, as they have done after similar attacks in France, Belgium, UK, US, Turkey and Israel. There will be no sullying of Western landmarks by the odious colors of the Russian flag, apparently. The only exception? Tel Aviv.

The Duran provides some updates since last night:

Russia has declared three days of mourning for the victims of the attack. All ready though, people are asking who may have been behind this attack?

Initial reports have surfaced indicating that a Russian citizen of Kyrgyz origin may have plotted and executed the attack. It is still not entirely certain if he acted alone.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security has pledged to work side by side with Russian security and emergency services in helping with the investigation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump had a phone call during which the American President expressed his condolences to the Russian people and affirmed the necessity of working together to fight terrorism.

Donald Trump has emphasised the need for the United States to work with Russia against a common terrorist threat throughout his campaign and into his presidency. However, the responses of America's traditional European allies as well as the anti-Trump mainstream media, had a very different kind of response to the attack.

Western mainstream media journalists were quick to invent conspiracy theories to explain the attack on Russian civilians, including women and children.

British state-owned broadcaster BBC was among the first to draw a rather strange link between the attacks and recent protests by ultra-nationalist agitator Alexei Navalny.

Not wanting to be out done, Rupert Murdoch owned Sky News chimed in with similar theories:

The overall response of western mainstream media has been both to minimise coverage of this major terrorist attack or to dismiss it with conspiratorial accusations of a 'false flag' incident. By contrast, RT never aired such theories in its comprehensive coverage of a smaller terrorist attack outside the UK Parliament, just weeks ago.

The suspect in question is 22-year-old Azbarzhon Dzhalilov, a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen. Authorities say he detonated the explosive in a suicide attack, and his remains were found among the victims. According to the Investigative Committee, he also planted the second IED found at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.

"Following a genetic examination and analysis of CCTV footages, the investigation assumes that this particular person who carried out the suicide attack also left a bag containing the explosive device at Ploshchad Vosstaniya," the committee said.

Earlier in the day, Petrenko told Interfax that the Investigative Committee, assisted by the FSB and the Interior Ministry's rapid response teams, conducted an examination of "fragmented remains" found inside the third car and were able to establish that the terrorist suspect was male.

The official noted that the authorities are "carrying on with interrogations and inspecting CCTV cameras."

"A blast assessment study, as well as a genetic examination, will follow," she said.

A TASS report translated by Russia Insider has more details:

According to preliminary data, an explosive device in the St. Petersburg metro was launched by a suicide bomber, a source in law enforcement agencies told Tass.

"Judging by the nature of the injuries, the suicide bomber acted: the explosive was attached to his body, or was in a backpack, or he held it even in his hands, but at the abdomen level, as evidenced by the fact that everyone who was nearby, characteristic lesions in the abdominal region," the source said.

At the site of the explosion, many fragments of the remains of the dead, not only the alleged terrorist, were found. "His identity is pre-established, he is really a native of Central Asia and had connections with Syrian militants," the law enforcement agencies reported.

According to the first conclusions, the suicide bomber stood near the doors, closer to the middle of the car. "In the center of the car found his hand with wires that are sent for examination," the source said.

At the same time, the source added that the explosive device put into operation in the metro in St. Petersburg was similar to that which was rendered harmless at the station "Ploshchad Vosstaniya". According to him, the capacity of the improvised explosive device was 200-300 grams in TNT equivalent. "It looks like a device for what was neutralized on the Square of the Rebellion," the source said.The bomb was stuffed with striking elements - metal balls and bolts.

More pics at Fort Russ.
The death toll has risen to 14 after 3 more of the victims succumbed to their injuries. The driver of the train, Alexander Kaverin, told RT that he had "no time for fear - I had to work." He thus continued driving the train to the next station, avoiding a situation that could have resulted in even more deaths, as happened in 1995 when a similar event in Baku led to a stampede that killed up to 300 people.

Peskov described Trump's call with Putin:

Trump has extended "his deep condolences to the relatives and loved ones of those killed as result of a barbaric terrorist act," Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, as cited by RIA Novosti.

"The presidents noted that terrorism is the evil against which it is necessary to fight together," Peskov added. Putin, in turn, thanked his American counterpart for showing solidarity with the Russian people.

In a statement released following the conversation, the White House said that "both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated."

It went on to note that Trump pledged the "full support" of Washington to Moscow in "responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice."

As the news on the blast broke, Trump was one of the first world leaders to express his sympathies calling the suspected attack "a terrible thing."
...
Putin chaired an emergency meeting of St. Petersburg's security and rescue services, joined by the representatives of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Interior Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry and the National Guard at which he was briefed on the ongoing investigation into the blast. He also laid flowers to the improvised memorial outside the Tekhnologichesky Institut metro station.

Lavrov responded to the western media's allegation that the attack was revenge for Russia's role in Syria with the following:

"As for the opinion, reasoning of some media that the terrorist attack is a revenge on Russia for our policy in Syria — this is cynical and cowardly. I have no desire to even begin to characterize such statements," - said Lavrov at a press conference following talks with foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan Erlan Abdyldayev.

According to the minister, "It is not just an invention of the media, but some leaders, including representatives of the Pentagon under the Obama administration shared similar thoughts with global community, when they predicted that since we came to Syria to help the Assad government, then we should expect new coffins, which will keep flowing to Russia with the bodies of your soldiers."

And even more outrageous conspiracy theories from mainstream media hacks...

Update: Monumentgate. After being publicly shamed, Paris (via mayor Anne Hidalgo) relented to public pressure and announced that the Eiffel Tower would go dark to pay tribute to the victims of the St. Petersburg attack. New York is having none of that weakling submission and such silly, commie notions of solidarity and sympathy: the Empire State building will not go dark. Instead, they're lighting up for college basketball. Great priorities there, New York. Berlin's Brandenburg Gate will light itself up for seemingly anyone - except Russia. And they've rightfully received an avalanche of criticism for it. The St. Petersburg attack simply isn't "exceptional" enough, apparently. Petty, much?

RT has spoken to some of the survivors. See the video below:


RT has a summary of "what we know so far" about the attack. So check that out if you want the short version.