Moscow's teams — including those working remotely — jumped in to cover a quickly developing and chaotic story on the night of Friday March 22 as it unfolded. They went on to provide additional reporting, including interviews with eyewitnesses and family members of missing loved ones, explainers and mood pieces to give full, comprehensive and competitive cover in all formats.
When news started to come in via Russian news agencies and telegram channels of a shooting attack and fire at a large concert venue in a Moscow suburb, AP in all formats was quick to act. Multiple alerts and strong spot coverage over the first days moved, as the teams quickly developed multiple enterprise pieces delving into details of the attack, an explainer on past attacks, the mood of Muscovites and the impact on President Vladimir Putin. Video quickly deployed two crews to the scene and AP had strong user-generated content in the early moments following the attack. Photos included strong early images of emergency workers at the scene and, in the ensuing days, photos of the suspects.