Overview
- A blast struck the outdoor entrance area of Balzi Rossi on Kudrinskaya Square on Saturday evening, killing three people and injuring between 15 and 21 others according to Russian authorities.
- Officials said the fatalities were the woman carrying the device, a security guard who stopped her, and a diner, while injured victims were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.
- Russia’s National Anti‑Terrorism Committee and the Interior Ministry are treating the explosion as a bombing caused by a homemade explosive device and have dispatched forensic teams to collect evidence.
- Early accounts blamed a possible gas or kitchen explosion, but state agencies later revised the cause and updated casualty figures, producing public discrepancies in the reported injury total.
- The venue was closed for a private event when the blast occurred at a prominent central Moscow site near the Kremlin, and investigators are probing motive and any wider connections.