According to American officials, the US government message indicates that the City Hall City Hall concert platform could be the purpose of a terrorist attack in Moscow. This message was transferred more than two weeks before the tragic event, when terrorists attacked the suburbs of Moscow.
The warning from the United States was noted for a high degree of specificity, indicating the seriousness of the threat that US officials felt. They claim that the Islamic State was interested in conducting an attack that, in their view, threatened a large number of civilians.
This information is contrary to Russian authorities that warnings from the US were too general to be useful to prevent attack. The name "City Hall" as a potential attack purpose raises the question of insufficient response of the Russian authorities to threats to security.
The terrorist attack that happened when the militants attacked City Hall City, led to the death of more than 140 people and destroyed the building. The group known as the Islamic State-Chorasan or IDIL-K has taken responsibility for this terrorist attack, which has become the most fragile in the last 20 years in Russia.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to blame Ukraine by rejecting warnings from the United States as "candid blackmail" and "attempting to intimidate and destabilize" Russian society.
American officials who spoke under anonymity confirmed the transmission of information by Washington Moscow, but the national security council spokesman refused to comment on the story. Previously, it was only known about a general warning about a terrorist attack in Moscow, but not about the specific purpose, which was City Hall City.
The Kremlin representative in response to The Washington Post did not give a specific answer to a warning about the City Hall Crocus. However, the head of the external intelligence service of Russia, Sergey Narishkin, on Tuesday told reporters in Moscow that the information provided by the United States was "too general and did not allow them to fully establish those who committed this terrible crime."
Narishkin added that Russia has "taken appropriate measures to prevent" attack according to information of US intelligence. However, the video from the scene showed that the militants did not resist considerable resistance. According to Russian media reports, specialized police units arrived only an hour after the shooting began, and then waited for more than 30 minutes before entering the building, and the attackers had time to escape.
Although the United States regularly share information about possible terrorist threats with other countries in the "obligation to warn" policy, it is considered unusual to indicate specific goals of the enemy, officials and experts say. This can cause the risk of disclosure of sources of information or secret intelligence.
However, the information that pointed to a possible attack on the concert hall also claimed a potential danger to Americans in Russia. The US Embassy has publicly announced on March 7 that it "monitors that extremists plan to attack mass gatherings in Moscow, including concerts" and advised the US citizens to "avoid large assemblies over the next 48 hours."
According to persons acquaintances with the situation, the United States conveyed information of Russia the day before this public warning. Narishkin reported that "US intelligence services" had transmitted this information to the FSB, the Russian State Security Service.
According to warning policy, the United States has also recently exchanged information about terrorist threats with other countries, including Iran. In January, US officials warned that the Islamic state intends to attack in this country. The intelligence was so specific that they helped the Iranian authorities to prevent two explosions of the suicidever terrorists in Kerman, where at least 95 people were killed. The Islamic State considers the Shiite Muslim population of Iran to be rapid and attacked the crowd of Sorbots, who honored the fourth anniversary of the death of Major-General Kasma Suleimani.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper was the first to report to Iran's warning.
Despite the lack of an effective safety system in City Holi City, there are signs that the Russian government initially seriously resorted to Washington's warning. According to one of the US officials, information contained data on the plans of the Islamic state to attack the synagogue. The next day after receiving this information, the FSB announced that it prevented an attack on a synagogue in Moscow.
15-year-old Islam Khalilov, who worked in the wardrobe of the concert hall on the night of the attack, said that the City Hall City staff was warned about a possible terrorist attack shortly after a public warning on March 7. According to him, additional safety measures were introduced, including trained dogs.
Why security has not been strengthened and maintained after the first warning remains unknown. Some US officials suggest that Russian intelligence services may have believed that US information was inaccurate, since there was no attack during the days after March 7.
Putin was abandoned from terrorist warnings, which, in his opinion, from the "low official Western structures" during a meeting with the High Management of the FSB on March 19. "You know about them well, so I will not go into details now," Putin said, according to the Kremlin's official transcript.
Putin expressed his belief that the most important work of the FSB was carried out in Ukraine as part of the fact that he was euphemistically called the "special military operation of Russia." He compared Ukrainian forces to terrorists and expressed the opinion that they pose a direct threat to Russia. "The neo -Nazi Kiev regime has also moved to terrorist tactics," Putin said, including "attempting to recruit sabotage and terrorist attacks aimed at critical infrastructure and public places in Russia."
After the Russian authorities detained the suspects of the City City Hall, Putin and other high -ranking officials stated that Kiev had hired operatives and developed plans to escape to Ukraine - accusations that US and Ukrainian officials rejected.
In the past, Russia has received help from the US with gratitude. Twice during the Presidential Administration Donald Trump, Putin thanked the Americans for the exchange of information that helped to disrupt terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg in 2017 and 2019.
