President Félix Tshisekedi has condemned "the terrorist attack carried out on Friday near Moscow, which caused dozens of deaths and injuries," reads the account X of the Presidency of the DRC, which specifies that the Head of State "expresses his total solidarity with the Russian authorities in the face of terrorism." "Through the same message, President Félix Tshisekedi has presented" his condolences to President Putin, the Russian people, and particularly to the families of the victims.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described this act as a terrorist attack and called on the international community to unanimously condemn it. The terrorist organization Daesh has claimed the attack, stating that the assailants managed to escape. However, on Saturday, March 23, in the morning, Moscow reported having arrested these assailants who were heading towards Ukraine, a country suspected by Moscow of being connected to the attackers.

It is the Russian President himself, Vladimir Putin, who confirms that "the four individuals who committed this terrorist attack have been found and arrested. They were en route to Ukraine, where a passage had been prepared for them to cross the border." "All those who ordered and perpetrated these crimes will be held accountable for their actions. Whoever they are, we will find them and we will punish them. (...) We count on the cooperation of all states that sincerely share our pain and are ready to join efforts in the common fight against international terrorism in all its forms," assures the Kremlin leader.

In this context of violence, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has expressed its solidarity with the authorities and the people of the Russian Federation, noting the strong diplomatic relations that bind the two nations. Despite Kinshasa's generally pro-Western orientation, ties between the DRC and Moscow are moving towards enhanced cooperation, as recently illustrated by the Russian government's approval of a draft agreement on military cooperation between the two countries. This initiative is a continuation of the Russo-Congolese Agreement of 1999, which concerned military-technical cooperation, particularly in the field of training for the FARDC.

Dido Nsapu