“US specifically warned of attack in concert hall in Moscow”

US authorities specifically warned Russia that the Crocus City Hall near Moscow was a possible target of an attack. That contradicts the Kremlin’s claim that the warning was “very general.”

More than two weeks before terrorists carried out a bloody attack on the outskirts of Moscow, the US government told Russian officials that the popular concert venue Crocus City Hall was a potential target. American officials familiar with the dossier told the newspaper this The Washington Post. Their names are not mentioned.

According to the American newspaper, Washington had clear indications that Islamic State was preparing a large-scale attack. That flies in the face of Moscow’s claims that the US warnings were “too general” to help prevent the attack.

Although Washington routinely shares information about possible terrorist attacks with foreign powers — under a policy principle known as “the duty to warn” — giving information about specific targets to an adversary is highly unusual, according to intelligence experts.

Those who do so risk inadvertently revealing how they obtained the intelligence, which could jeopardize clandestine surveillance activities or human sources.

Questions about security

The American identification of the Crocus concert hall as a potential target calls for The Washington Post raises new questions about why Russian authorities have failed to take stricter measures to protect the site. It is not really clear whether the US has also passed on other potential targets to Russia.

A branch of Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, Russia’s deadliest in two decades. After which US officials publicly announced that the terrorist group known as Islamic State in Khorasan (ISKP) “is solely responsible”. But both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his confidant Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the National Security Council, are still trying to shift the blame to Ukraine. Kiev itself has repeatedly denied any involvement.