terrorism
USA named Crocus City Hall as a possible terrorist target
The Crocus City Hall event center burned down after an attack on the western edge of Moscow. photo
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa
After the terrorist attack in Moscow, Russia said that US warnings were too inaccurate. But the information was allegedly more concrete than previously known.
According to a newspaper report, the US security authorities have directly warned the Russian side of a possible terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Moscow.
The Washington Post newspaper cited unnamed sources in the US government in its report. The US secret services were very sure that the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) was planning an attack on this location. On March 22, four men stormed unhindered the event center on the outskirts of Moscow, which was occupied by thousands of people, shot around and set a fire. In this worst terrorist attack in Russia has killed more than 140 people for years.
Russian domestic intelligence service: Information was too general
The warning became public on March 7, when the US Embassy and subsequently other Western missions in Moscow urged their citizens to avoid large public events in the coming days. A few days before the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the warning as a Western provocation. After the attack, the US National Security Council reiterated that Moscow had been notified through internal channels. However, these statements did not go into so much detail that the specific location, Crocus City Hall, was even mentioned.
The Washington Post report contradicts information from the Russian foreign intelligence service SWR on Tuesday in Moscow. SWR boss Sergei Naryschkin confirmed that the Russian domestic secret service FSB had been warned by the USA. “But our Russian colleagues say that the information was too general and did not allow finding the people involved in this terrible crime,” Naryshkin told the Interfax news agency.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack in several letters. Western security authorities and experts consider these messages to be credible. They assume that the attack was carried out by the IS offshoot Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK). However, the Russian leadership is trying to portray Ukraine as the real mastermind. Putin told a meeting at the Interior Ministry on Tuesday that all beneficiaries of this crime should be investigated. At the same time, he announced that the actions of the security authorities and other bodies during the attack should be investigated.