The Kremlin said on Monday it was not taking part in discussions about the use of the death penalty in relation to the four suspects arrested after an attack on a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday.
Russia has detained four men who it says directly carried out the attack, in which at least 137 people were killed and 182 wounded.
Senior members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime have called for the country to bring back the death penalty following Friday's attack.
Critics have sounded the alarm over the demand, including due to Russia's broad use of counter-terrorism and anti-extremist laws to target Kremlin opponents and supporters of Ukraine.
Russia has had a moratorium on capital punishment since the 1990s but calls are growing in the Putin camp to lift it in the wake of the deadliest attack in the country for two decades, according to AFP.
“Now a lot of questions are being asked about the death penalty,” Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said on Saturday.
“This topic will definitely be deeply, professionally and substantively worked out. A decision will be made that will meet the mood and expectations of our society,” Vasilyev said in a video statement.
About 137 people were killed when gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert hall on Friday, shooting spectators before setting the building on fire.
“It is necessary to bring back the death penalty when it comes to terrorism and murder,” Yury Afonin, deputy head of the State Duma's security committee, said on Saturday.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, and Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin – two close allies of Putin – also called for the “terrorists” to be “destroyed” following the attack.
“Terrorists only understand retaliatory terror...death for death,” Medvedev said on Friday in a post on Telegram.
The move was also backed by the heads of two other pro-Putin parties in Russia's parliament.
Critics have voiced alarm over the plans, including because of Russia's broad use of counter-terrorism and anti-extremist laws, which have been used to target Kremlin opponents and supporters of Ukraine.
Authorities opened a record 143 terror-related criminal cases in 2023, according to the independent Mediazona news site – up from fewer than 20 a year before 2018.
Women's rights campaigner Alyona Popova said Saturday on Telegram, “If we allow the death penalty for terrorism, do you realize how many people the system would kill?”
“How many people are in prison right now...who are not terrorists in any way?” she added. “In no way should we play on tragedy.”
