Moscow responds to claims US warned it about possible terrorist target
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has rejected the Washington Post’s claim that the US had alerted Russia about an immanent terrorist attack on the Crocus City concert hall two weeks before the tragedy, dismissing it as completely false.
On March 22, a group of armed men stormed the venue, killing at least 144 people, including six children, and injuring over 500 others. The terrorist act was the deadliest on Russian soil since the early 2000s.
On Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials, the paper reported that Russian authorities had received an alert with a “high degree of specificity” that the popular venue could be targeted by terrorists. According to the news outlet, the notice came one day before March 7 warning from the US Embassy in Moscow for US citizens to stay away from public gatherings “including concerts” for the following 48 hours, because of the heightened threat.
Zakharova dismissed the report during a press briefing on Wednesday, noting that Moscow has grown “accustomed to American misinformation” as well as the Western media’s repeated attempts to retract their own assertions.
“I would really like… to receive factual material on this topic from the American side. That is, to whom and when did they give this information?” she added.
In the aftermath of the Crocus City Hall massacre, the White House said that the US had shared data with Moscow about a potential terrorist attack. The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, has confirmed this, but noted that “the information was too general and did not allow us to fully identify those who participated in this terrible crime.”
Russian law enforcement agencies arrested several suspects following the attack, including four suspected gunmen who were caught fleeing towards Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the culprits as radical Islamists, saying that a “window” had been arranged for them on the Ukrainian border.
Moscow has suggested that Ukrainian intelligence services may have been involved in the attack, a claim vehemently denied by Kiev. The US and its allies have insisted that the atrocity was orchestrated by Islamic State terrorists.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of obsessive attempts to clear Ukraine of any culpability. He also advised against jumping to conclusions before the investigation is over.
