Earlier this month, the US embassy in Russia said it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow,” including concerts. The embassy warned US citizens to avoid large gatherings. On Friday, following reports of the Crocus City Hall attack, it advised US citizens not to travel to Russia.
Starting in November, there has been a steady stream of intelligence that ISIS-K was determined to attack in Russia, according to two sources familiar with the information. ISIS-K stands for ISIS-Khorasan, the terror organization’s affiliate that is active in Afghanistan and the surrounding region. US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the US government had had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow – potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts – and that this is what prompted the State Department to issue the public advisory. “The US government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy,” Watson said. In a speech Tuesday, Putin had blasted the American warnings as “provocative,” saying “these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.” In March alone, Russian authorities had thwarted several ISIS-related incidents, according to RIA. On March 3, RIA reported that six ISIS members were killed in a counter-terrorist operation in the Ingush Karabulak; on March 7, it said security services had uncovered and “neutralized” a cell of the banned organization Vilayat Khorasan in the Kaluga region, whose members were planning an attack on a synagogue in Moscow; and on March 20, it said the commander of an ISIS combat group had been detained. A US official said Friday that Washington had no reason to doubt ISIS’ claim that it was responsible for the latest attack. FSB: Moscow attackers had contacts in Ukraine The perpetrators of the attack in Moscow on Friday evening had contacts in Ukraine. Four attackers were on their way to the Ukrainian border when they were apprehended on Saturday morning, the Russian security service FSB said. The arrests the FSB refers to took place in Bryansk province, several hundred kilometers southwest of Moscow. Bryansk borders both Ukraine and Belarus. The FSB does not say what role these 'Ukrainian contacts' would have played in the attack. Shortly after the attack on Crocus City Hall, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group claimed responsibility. Employees of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also immediately announced on Friday evening that Kiev had nothing to do with the attack in Moscow. The United States also said on Friday evening that it had no indications that Ukraine was involved in the shooting.
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