1y ago

US embassy in Russia warned Americans about imminent attack by ‘extremists’ weeks ago

www.independent.co.uk

US embassy on 7 March repeatedly urged all American citizens to leave Russia immediately, giving no further details about nature of threat

The US embassy had warned Americans that “extremists” had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow weeks ahead of the deadly strike on concertgoers by Islamic State militants on Friday that resulted in the deaths of 93 people.

In the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege, gunmen sprayed civilians with bullets just before Soviet-era rock group “Picnic” was to perform to a full house at the 6,200-seat the Crocus City Hall just west of the capital.

The US embassy on 7 March repeatedly urged all American citizens to leave Russia immediately, giving no further details about the nature of the threat, but said people should avoid concerts and crowds and be aware of their surroundings.

“The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the embassy said on its website at that time.

8 comments

I remember seeing this warning and then nothing coming out of. It seemed so vague and strange. The atrocities never end. 😖
I wonder what Washington shared with Moscow and how the Kremlin chose to act or not act on that information...
- IIRC FSB claimed to have stopped ISIS terrorists a couple of days earlier (before the public were warned through the US embassy), so maybe they thought there was nothing to it. It does seem like they were warned repeatedly however and that they indeed dismissed those warnings.
  
  I also just saw this. What a travesty.
  Putin addressed the warnings a couple weeks later, criticizing the warning three days ago as "provocative."
  Per TASS, the Russian president said on March 19 the aim of "the recent provocative statements of a number of official Western structures about the possibility of terrorist attacks in Russia" was harming Russian society.
  "All this resembles outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society," Putin said, according to state media reporting on his remarks.
  Future humanity, if you even exist, please have mercy on us when you look back at this age. 😮‍💨
I’m actually just shocked there are Americans in Russia right now.
- This is normal. There are always ambassadors in other countries trying to broker new deals for whatever reason. It keeps the peace in a way of money flowing through both nations. It also allows people to check up on potential enemies.
  If they are about to mobilize the embassy would know and inform Washington and vice versa. This is what happened back in Benghazi and Hillary was apparently at fault for 4 deaths in a war torn area.
  People dying sucks but it's a risk of the job and what they signed up for with a post such as this.

8 comments