The Washington Post: The attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall was no surprise to the Russians

According to the article, the specific warnings from Washington only underscore the United States’ belief that the attack was carried out by the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State group, contradicting Moscow’s claims that the warnings were too general to have helped prevent a brutal attack.

In this case, one wonders why the Russian authorities did not take stricter measures to protect this popular place, where more than 140 people died at the hands of attackers. There is no doubt that this is the deadliest attack in Russia in the last 20 years.

“The attack further undermined the image of strength and security that the Russian leader seeks to create, and exposed the fundamental weaknesses of the country’s security apparatus, which has been weakened by the war in Ukraine for more than two years. Inside the country, Vladimir Putin’s agents are more concerned with quelling political discord and opposition to the president than rooting out terrorist plots, according to analysts and observers of Russian politics.

March 7 The US Embassy in Moscow publicly announced that it was “monitoring reports that extremists are planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow in the near future, including concerts,” and advised its citizens to “avoid large gatherings for the next 48 hours.”

The United States shared its information with Russia a day earlier, according to people familiar with the public alert. The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, said that “US intelligence agencies” passed the information on to Russia’s State Security Service (FSB).

V. Putin called the United States’ warnings “blackmail” and “an attempt to intimidate and destabilize Russian society.”

On Tuesday, S. Naryshkin, quoted by the state news agency “Interfax”, already hurled accusations at Washington, saying that the information shared by the United States was “too general and did not allow to fully identify those who committed this terrible crime.” He also explained that Moscow “took appropriate measures to prevent” the attack.

However, video from the scene of the killings shows that the gunmen did not face any major resistance. On the day of the attack, Russian media reported that specialized police units arrived more than an hour after the shooting began and then waited more than 30 minutes before entering the building, but the attackers had already fled.

“Despite the lack of effective security at Crocus City Hall, there are indications that the Russian government took Washington’s warning seriously, at least initially. According to one US official, it contained information about Islamic State plans to attack the synagogue. The day after Moscow received this information, the FSB announced that it had prevented an Islamic State attack on a synagogue in Moscow,” the article reads.

Fifteen-year-old Islam Chalilov, quoted by The Washington Post, claimed he was working in the dressing room of the concert hall on the night of the attack. He said staff at Crocus City Hall were notified of the possibility of a terrorist attack shortly after March 7. public notice.

“We were warned that terrorist attacks could happen, and we were told what to do and where to take people,” I. Chalilov revealed in an interview with famous Russian sports journalist Dmitry Yegorov, which was published on YouTube.

Imago / Scanpix photo/Attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow

According to I. Chalilov, checks were tightened at the venue, including with trained dogs.

Why security was not stepped up and maintained after the initial warning remains unclear. It is possible that the Russian security services, after a few days after March 7 no attacks were attempted, decided the U.S. information was incorrect and relaxed, some U.S. officials speculated.

The publication recalled that in the past, Russia gratefully accepted similar assistance from the United States. Twice during the administration of President Donald Trump, Putin thanked the Americans for sharing information that helped foil terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg in 2017 and 2019.

But experts noted that while Washington typically shares information about potential terrorist attacks with foreign countries under a so-called “duty to warn” policy, it is unusual for an adversary to provide information about specific targets.

“In doing so, the United States risks revealing how it obtained the intelligence, which could compromise covert surveillance activities or human sources,” the article noted.