The United States sent a signal to Russia two weeks before the terrorist attack at Crocus. New information puts Washington's sources at risk

More than two weeks before the terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk, US authorities informed the Russian side that Crocus City Hall could be the target of the attack, American media reported, citing anonymous officials. The Washington Post (WP) notedthat Washington took the unusual step of sharing very specific information with Moscow.

The publication noted that the United States quite often shares information about threats with other countries in accordance with a policy known as the “duty to warn.” But providing data about specific goals is unusual. Such a step could lead to the disclosure of exactly how the American side obtained this information, thereby exposing the covert activities of observers or human sources to attack.

In addition, on April 2, The New York Times, citing unnamed American officials, said that the United States allegedly warned Russia and Iran about the specific goals of terrorists before the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. Some officials said that the Russian Federation paid attention to the message from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station in Moscow and took steps to investigate the threat.

Also on March 8, the US Embassy and the British Foreign Office warned foreign citizens in Russia about the threat of terrorist attacks in the next 48 hours. They urged people to avoid attending public events, including concerts.

Russia said there was insufficient awareness of the US terrorist attack

Earlier, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, said that the FSB did receive information from the United States that a terrorist attack was possible, but it was too general, without important details. He added that the data provided by the United States did not help identify all participants in the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall.

Despite the fact that the counter-terrorism channel between Moscow and Washington operates, it is significantly limited, the head of the SVR noted.

FSB head Alexander Bortnikov too confirmedthat the United States transmitted general information to Russia about a possible terrorist attack, and it was taken into account. However, action was taken against another crowded place as intelligence did not point to Crocus City Hall as a target.

The New York Times (NYT) tried to find out why the American side did not want to give more specific information about the impending attack. According to journalists, the whole point is the hostile relations between Moscow and Washington, which did not allow American officials to transmit relevant information for fear that the Russian authorities would learn about their sources and methods of obtaining intelligence.

However, the Kremlin representative, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called for caution regarding NYT data obtained from anonymous sources.

Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently noted that the information transmitted by representatives of the intelligence services of Western countries was more reminiscent of blackmail and attempts to intimidate the Russian population.

Putin named the goal of those who ordered the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall

According to the Russian leader, those who ordered the terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk near Moscow sought to split multinational Russia from within.

It is unacceptable, I want to emphasize this, to use recent tragic events to provoke national hatred, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and so on.

Vladimir PutinPresident of Russia

Vladimir Putin promised that Russia will definitely get to those who ordered the terrorist attack, since in a terrorist environment any information is easily sold and bought.

Meanwhile, Kyiv admitted to creating tension in Russian society after the terrorist attack. The head of the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Andrey Kovalenko, said that the Ukrainian special services carried out actions to incite ethnic hatred among migrants in the Russian Federation.

He said that his employees’ tasks included both infiltrating migrants’ chats and spreading anti-migrant sentiments in Russian social networks. In particular, they were infiltrated into Telegram chats of Tajik migrants in order to evoke solidarity with the suspects in the terrorist attack after the publication of a video of their detention.