Ambassadors of dozens of countries attend memorial ceremony to honor victims of Moscow terror attack

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Ambassadors and staff of dozens of diplomatic missions in Russia on Saturday attended a memorial ceremony in Moscow to honor the victims of the March 22 terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 144 people.

The ceremony started with a minute of silence followed by diplomats releasing white balloons and laying flowers at the memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall in Moscow region's administrative center of Krasnogorsk, which was destroyed by fire.

Diplomats from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the US, and the Middle East, as well as Director General of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexey Ostrovsky, representatives of the Russian Council of Young Diplomats, the Foreign Ministry and college students took part in the event.

Separately, the Russian Emergency Ministry said the number of injured rose to 551, including five children.

On Friday, gunmen opened fire on people at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, a city in the Moscow region.

Russia’s Investigative Committee earlier said it detained 11 people, including four perpetrators, in the border region of Bryansk, who were on their way to Ukraine.

Moscow's Basmanny District Court late Sunday charged the four perpetrators with terrorism and approved their pretrial detention until May 22.