Moscow was warned about possibility of such an event but data was too general, Foreign Intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin said
FILE PHOTO: Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin. © Sputnik / Alexey Nikolsky
The US had warned Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) about the possibility of a terrorist attack ahead of last month’s massacre in Crocus City Hall near Moscow, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, told reporters on Tuesday.
However, the Russian spy chief explained that the information provided by the US did not contain any specific details and could not be used to single out who may have been plotting the attack or where.
Previously, the US claimed that it had warned Moscow of a possible terrorist attack two weeks before armed gunmen went on a shooting spree at Crocus City Hall in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk which they then set on fire. The attack resulted in the death of at least 144 people.
”The FSB received certain information from the intelligence services of the USA that this, unfortunately, is possible,” Naryshkin recalled. “However, the information was too general and did not allow us to fully identify those who participated in this terrible crime,” he noted.
Russian law enforcers have captured the four gunmen believed to have been responsible for the massacre, as well as several other individuals who are suspected of aiding the terrorists in their plot. As yet, however, it is yet unclear who ordered the attack.
While the Afghanistan-based offshoot of the Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the atrocity, the head of Russia’s security agency FSB, Aleksandr Bortnikov has suggested that the US, UK and Ukraine may be linked to the crime.
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency SVR has accused the US of actively seeking to distort facts about the terrorist attack, claiming that Washington has ordered the US State Department, special services, affiliated NGOs and media to work towards “removing from the international community any suspicions about the involvement of [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage in the crime.”
According to the SVR, the administration of US President Joe Biden fears that the discovery of a “Kiev trace” in the attack could jeopardize American attempts to bolster international support for Ukraine.
Тhe Russian Investigative Committee said on Monday it launched a probe into allegations that Ukraine and its Western backers, including the US, could be involved in terrorist activities on the country’s soil. The agency is now investigating the “organization, financing and conduct of terrorist acts” by those nations, after a group of MPs filed a complaint on the matter.
