The United States warned the Russian authorities two weeks before the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall that the music venue could be a potential target of the attack, The Washington Post reported citing American officials familiar with the matter.
“More than two weeks before terrorists staged a bloody attack in the suburbs of Moscow, the U.S. government told Russian officials that Crocus City Hall, a popular concert venue, was a potential target,” the daily said.
According to The Washington Post, this information was passed on to Russia a day before the US Embassy in Moscow issued on March 7 a warning to American nationals to avoid mass gatherings in view of a possible terrorist attack in the Russian capital.
The daily also reported referring to its unnamed officials and experts that “While Washington routinely shares information about possible terrorist attacks with foreign countries, under a policy known as the ‘duty to warn,’ it is unusual to give information about specific targets to an adversary.”
“Doing so risks revealing how the United States obtained the intelligence, potentially putting clandestine surveillance activities or human sources at risk,” the daily added.
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin told journalists on April 2 that the Russian Federal Security Service did receive certain information from the United States about the threat of a possible terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall, “but it was too general.”
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just outside the Moscow city limits. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, more than 140 people have died, and the death toll may rise.
Eleven suspects in the attack have been apprehended, including all four gunmen, who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they were attempting to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address, citing preliminary information, that the Ukrainian side had prepared “a window” in the border especially for the terrorists to cross undetected. He promised to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack on Crocus City Hall. On March 24, Russia declared its first nationwide mourning since 2018.
CNN reported earlier, citing sources, that US intelligence services had tipped off Russia that the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) was plotting terrorist attacks in Russia. Washington had been receiving such intelligence since November, but it’s not clear if this prompted the US embassy in Moscow to issue the March 7 warning, the TV channel said.
