The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have issued a warning of attacks in Russia in the next 48 hours, asking their citizens to “avoid large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts”.
The first warning was issued yesterday from the US diplomatic mission in Moscow: “The Embassy is monitoring reports that some extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts,” reads the notice, which provides no further details on the reported threat from Washington. “US citizens should avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.”
The Russian capital is currently hosting various celebrations and concerts dedicated to International Women's Day, considered one of the most heartfelt holidays in the country. But it is unclear whether the security alert from US diplomats referred to events related to March 8.
The US embassy still asked American citizens to “avoid crowds”, “monitor local media for updates” and be “aware of your surroundings”.
The warning was then relaunched today also by the diplomatic representation of the United Kingdom in Moscow, which “advises British citizens to consider leaving Russia”.
The official Global Affairs Canada portal, which offers advice to Canadian citizens abroad, also has cited the alert launched by the USA, asking to “avoid any travel to Russia”.
In Moscow they didn't take it well: Margarita Simonyan, director of the Russian channel RT and considered one of President Vladimir Putin's major allies, commented: “If the US and British embassies have concrete information, it must be passed on to the secret services. I hope they did it, otherwise this is called complicity.”
Officially, the Kremlin did not react to the complaint from the US, even though in the same hours in which the alert was published, the American ambassador to Moscow Lynn Tracy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to one Note published by the Russian government, the summons had nothing to do with the alarm raised by diplomats in Washington. In fact, on this occasion, Tracy was informed that three American NGOs active in Russia had been recognized as “undesirable organizations” and that therefore the US diplomatic representation had to cease all relations with them.
However, the statement also contained a note: “It is underlined that attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, including subversive actions and the spread of disinformation in the context of elections and a special military operation (the war in Ukraine, ed. ), will be repressed harshly and decisively, up to and including the expulsion as persona non grata of the American embassy employees involved in such actions.”
The American alert comes a few hours after an operation by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which yesterday announced of having foiled a terrorist attack against a synagogue in Moscow attributed to the self-styled Islamic state: according to the Russian news agency Taxagents raided an ISIS hideout in Kaluga, south-west of the capital, killing two alleged members of the organization and seizing weapons, ammunition, explosives and balaclavas.
According to an FSB note, the cell belonged to Wilayat Khorasan, the Afghan branch of ISIS. “Its members were planning to commit a terrorist act against one of the Jewish religious institutions in Moscow.”
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