Moscow concert hall suspect misidentified as Chechen Islamist leader fighting in Ukraine

By: Nikolaj Kristensen
March 25 2024

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(Source: X/TikTok/Screenshots)

Context 

On Friday, March 22, 2024, gunmen carried out an attack on Crocus Concert Hall in Moscow, killing more than 130 people. A day later, the Russian secret police, FSB, announced that 11 people had been arrested, including four "directly involved" in the attack.

Footage appeared online, shared by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, of one of the arrested suspects being interrogated. 

Soon claims spread on social media that the man in the video was in fact Rustam Azhiev, also known as Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, leader of a Chechen Islamist faction who has fought in the Russia-Ukraine war on the Ukrainian side. 

However, the man in the video has been misidentified. 

In fact

On Sunday Russia charged four men for the attack, among them the man seen in the video. He was identified by Russian authorities as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev. According to Russian state-run news agency Tass, Mirzoyev identified himself as a citizen of Tajikistan.  

Even prior to Mirzoyez being identified, users on social media - among them visual investigations reporter at the New York Times Aric Toler - pointed to several inconsistencies between Azhiev and the man in the footage, including that Azhiev has cauliflower ears, and that his nose slopes differently from the man in the footage. 

Azhiev (right) has cauliflower ears, and his nose slopes differently from Mirzoyev's (left). (Source: Telegram/X/Screenshots)

The Kremlin has claimed without evidence that Ukraine was involved in the concert hall attack. The Ukrainian government and the White House have denied the claims. 

The verdict 

The man claimed to be the Chechen Islamist leader Rustam Azhiev was identified as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, a Tajik national. Mirzoyev’s appearance differs from Azhiev’s in multiple ways. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.