The US had tipped off Moscow ’bout an imminent ISIS threat right before attackers laid siege to Crocus City Hall, a tragedy that claimed many lives. Putin dismissed the warnings as “provocative,” though.
Armed attackers hit the concert venue near Moscow Friday, blasting bullets and lobbing a firebomb, marking the grisliest terror strike in the Russian capital for years.
ISIS’s claiming they did the attack.
Experts are saying the extent of the bloodshed – bits of which CNN got on video, showing folks ducking for cover as gunfire rattled around – is a huge black eye for Putin, who just a bit ago, in his election win pitch, was all about keeping Russia safe.
Not only did Russia’s spooks miss stopping the assault, but Putin didn’t listen to the US’s heads-up that extremists had Moscow in their sights.
Earlier this month, the US embassy in Russia put out a notice that “extremists could be looking to hit big crowds in Moscow,” concerts included, and told Americans to steer clear.
Adrienne Watson, from the US National Security Council, mentioned the US had passed this intel to the Russians as part of its ‘duty to warn’ policy.
But Putin, on Tuesday, slammed the US’s alerts as “provocative,” saying “they smack of blackmail and trying to scare and shake up our society.”
That was Putin’s line even with Russian officials having reported a few ISIS-linked incidents lately.
State-run RIA Novosti on March 3 talked about six ISIS folks getting taken out in a counter-terrorism strike in Ingush Karabulak; on March 7, it reported that security had busted up a cell of the outlawed group Vilayat Khorasan in Kaluga, who had plans to hit a Moscow synagogue; and on March 20, it mentioned the nabbing of an ISIS squad leader.
Sources in the know ’bout the US intel said there’s been constant chatter since November that ISIS-K – ISIS’s branch in Afghanistan and the area – was gunning for Russia.
Russia’s played a big role in Syria’s war, backing Bashar al-Assad and fighting ISIS.
ISIS-K “thinks Russia’s part of the problem, oppressing Muslims,” noted Michael Kugelman from the Wilson Center, as Reuters reported.
He also said that ISIS-K’s got Central Asian fighters who have their own beef with Moscow.
A US official, on Friday, said that the US finds no reason to doubt ISIS’s claim for the Crocus City Hall horror show.
Right after the attack news, the US embassy warned its folks to avoid traveling to Russia.
