It strike close to Moscow: U.S. authorities said that Crocus City Hall might have been an Islamic State target.
The place was correct, but the time was not. Therefore, the warning implied that the assault may happen in the next several days.
The US Embassy issued a public alert on March 7 predicting possible terrorist strikes within the next two days.
The bloodiest incident in Russia in over 20 years occurred on March 22, when gunmen entered the hall and killed 144 people. Russia accused four Tajik nationals of being responsible for the killing, and the Islamic State took credit for the assault.
Although American authorities have consistently dismissed President Vladimir V. Putin’s and other senior officials’ claims that Ukraine may have been involved in the assault as unfounded, the claims have persisted without proof.
Intense information gathering on possible schemes by ISIS-Khorasan, the branch of the Islamic State operating in Afghanistan, is a top priority for the United States.
With this intelligence in hand, Washington was able to alert Russia and Iran, two countries that have been at odds with the Islamic State in the past, about intended attacks. Unfortunately, the warnings in both instances were not taken seriously enough to prevent the violence from continuing.
According to some Western sources, Russia did not ignore the C.I.A. station’s warning and began investigating the issue. However, the fresh data makes one wonder why Russian intelligence didn’t keep security measures up to par. The venue had not taken any extra security precautions prior to the incident.
According to Western sources, Russia seemed to have reduced its guard when the assault did not materialize quickly. This might be because Russia believed the American warning was incorrect.
According to a report by the Russian state-run news agency Interfax on Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin stated that the American warning was “too general” and prevented officials from identifying possible assailants.
The White House, the C.I.A., and other intelligence agencies have withheld new facts about the warning from discussion. White House officials have recognized the broad warning issued to Russia.
The idea that the US would alert a hostile nation like Russia about an impending assault may seem strange at first, but American intelligence services are legally obligated to do so. Intelligence services are responsible for informing their targets of any possible attacks so that those targets may take necessary precautions.
