Vladimir Putin has scrambled to save face by casting fresh doubt on ISIS claiming responsibility for the Moscow concert massacre that killed nearly 140 people, the deadliest attack on the nation's soil in years. 

Two of the four ISIS terrorists who were charged overnight with terrorism have pleaded guilty, after they were caught, allegedly tortured and detained by Russian security services following the deadly attack at a Moscow concert hall on Friday night. One of the terrorists was seen staking out the venue just a few days before the attack. 

ISIS twice claimed responsibility for the attack over the weekend, first posting a selfie taken by the four men, all of whom are Russian citizens, in front of an ISIS flag before posting a 90-second selfie video of the devastating attack from the terrorists' perspective. 

But Russian authorities again tried to discredit the direct claims made by the terror group, instead appearing to blame the attack on the West, after it emerged that the US tried to warn Russia about the massacre weeks before it happened. 

In a piece published in Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called ISIS' claims of responsibility into question. 

'Attention - a question to the White House: Are you sure it's ISIS? Might you think again about that', she wrote. 

Photographs show one of the suspected terrorists, named as Shamsuddin Fariddun, lying on a gym floor with his trousers pulled down and wires evidently attached to his groin area

Shamsuddin Fariddun was allegedly seen staking out Crocus City Hall on March 7 when he was pictured at the venue. The image (above) is purportedly seen on a picture taken at the venue by a photographer who was working at Crocus

Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova (pictured) called ISIS' claims of responsibility into question 

Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, suspected of taking part in the attack of a concert hall, sits in the defendant cage with a severed ear 

Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, a suspect in the shooting attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, sits behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants at the Basmanny district court in Moscow

Fariddun is one of four suspected terrorists being interrogated by the Russian Investigative Committee about the Moscow attack

New footage of the slaughter emerged today showing people running and cowering behind tables as the gunman opened fire

Zakharova said the United States was spreading a version of the 'bogeyman' of Islamic State to cover its 'wards' in Kyiv and reminded readers that Washington supported the 'mujahideen' fighters who fought Soviet forces in the 1980s.  

President Vladimir Putin has not publicly mentioned the Islamist militant group in connection with the attackers, who he said had been trying to escape to Ukraine.

Putin said some people on 'the Ukrainian side' had been prepared to spirit the gunmen across the border. Ukraine has denied any role in the attack and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Putin of seeking to divert blame for the concert hall attack by referring to Ukraine.

Zakharova's article came as footage of Russian forces torturing the men they arrested over the Moscow terror Performance V Capsules attack emerged, with one man given electric shocks to his genitals and a second forced to eat his own ear.

One image shows a suspect named as Shamsuddin Fariddun foaming at the mouth as he lies on a gym floor with his trousers pulled down and wires attached to his groin area. At the other end they are attached to a military radio powered by an 80-volt battery.

Separate video sees another man, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, having his ear severed and then spitting it out as he is forced to eat it.

The terrorist attack during a concert in Moscow's Crocus City Hall left more than 140 dead and over a hundred wounded

All four appeared in court in the Russian capital tonight and were paraded showing cuts and bruises

The four suspected terrorists entered the concert hall at around 8pm 

The two suspects are among four men detained in western Russia after Friday's terror attack on a packed Moscow concert hall that left at least 140 people dead.

All four appeared in court in the Russian capital and were paraded showing cuts and bruises as the authorities attempt to deliver a message to the shocked nation.

New footage filed inside the Crocus City Hall venue in Krasnogorsk also emerged, showing people running and cowering behind tables as the gunmen open fire in the main lobby of the building. People can be heard screaming as continuous bullets break through glass doors and mow down victims in what was the deadliest attack on Russia in years.

The four suspected terrorists, who have been photographed and named in the Russian media, were seen arriving in an unmarked white van before they entered the concert hall at around 8pm.

Photographs show suspect Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizod with a bandage strapped to his severed ear as he sits behind a glass wall at the Basmanny district court in Moscow. Any confessions made after such forms of torture can not be treated as reliable. 

A visibly injured man man sits behind a glass wall at the Basmanny district court in Moscow

A man sits with an injured face behind glass in the Basmanny District Court, in Moscow, Russia

Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the shooting attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue

Muhammadsobir Fayzov, a suspect in the shooting attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue

Muhammadsobir Fayzov sits in a glass cage in the Basmanny District Court in Moscow