Russian officials said today that the attack on a Moscow concert hall last year that killed 145 people was planned and organized by "special services of a hostile state," the Associated Press reported.
According to Svetlana Petrenko of Russia's Investigative Committee, the goal was to "destabilize the situation in Russia.".
While she did not specify the "hostile state," she noted that "six Central Asians" who are currently outside Russia have been charged in absentia and are wanted in Russia for allegedly recruiting and organizing the training of four of the suspected perpetrators.
The four men who were identified in the media as citizens of Tajikistan, appeared in a Moscow court in late March last year on terrorism charges.
According to Petrenko, 19 people are currently being held in Russia in connection with the attack on the Moscow Crocus Hall.
A faction of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which gunmen opened fire on people waiting for a concert by a popular rock band and then set the building on fire.
Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have persistently claimed, without providing evidence, that Ukraine played a role in the attack. Kiev has vehemently denied any involvement.