Marta Gichko11:46, 03/24/24

The dictator called the American intelligence information a “provocation” and rejected the warning.

The United States warned Moscow that ISIS militants were planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Russia. The warning came several days before the attackers attacked Crocus City Hall . Dictator Vladimir Putin dismissed the warning as “provocative.”

According to CNN , on Friday, armed attackers broke into a concert hall near Moscow, opening fire and causing a fire. This is the most brutal terrorist attack in the Russian capital in recent decades.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Experts say the fallout from the attack has undermined Putin’s narrative that he guarantees security for Russians.

“Russian intelligence services not only failed to prevent the attack, but Putin also did not heed warnings from the United States that extremists were planning to attack Moscow,” the newspaper writes.

Earlier this month, the US Embassy in Russia said it was “monitoring reports that extremists have plans to attack public gatherings in Moscow in the near future,” including concerts, and urged US citizens to avoid such places.

National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the US government “shared this information with Russian authorities consistent with its long-standing duty to warn policy.”

But in a speech on Tuesday, Putin called the American warnings “provocative,” saying that “these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.”

Putin announced this position despite Russian authorities reporting several ISIS-related incidents over the past month.

The state-owned RIA-Novosti reported on March 3 that six ISIS militants were killed during the counter-terrorism operation in the Ingush Karabulak; On March 7, it was reported that special services discovered 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, the commander of an ISIS combat group was reported to have been detained.

Two sources familiar with U.S. intelligence said there has been a steady stream of intelligence since November that ISIS-K, an ISIS affiliate operating in Afghanistan and the surrounding region, intends to attack Russia.

“Moscow has dramatically intervened in the Syrian civil war with the support of President Bashar al-Assad and against ISIS. ISIS-K considers Russia complicit in activities that routinely suppress Muslims,” ​​said Michael Kugelman of the Washington-based Wilson Center.

He added that the group also includes a number of Central Asian militants who have their own grievances against Moscow.

A US official said on Friday that Washington had no reason to doubt ISIS’ claim that it was responsible for the latest attack.

(C)UNIAN 2024