Kremlin security services were aware of the ISIS threat several days before the deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow, Russian intelligence documents obtained by a United Kingdom (UK)-based investigative organization suggest.
According to the London-based Dossier Center, the documents showed ethnic Tajiks radicalized by ISIS-K – the Central Asian offshoot of the terror group ISIS – could have been involved.
The Dossier Center is a Russian investigative group supported by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil tycoon in exile who has become a critic of the Kremlin. He has previously exposed details about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime, often using documents and leaks from the Russian government.
“A few days before the terrorist attack, members of the Security Council received a warning that citizens of Tajikistan could be used in terrorist attacks on Russian territory,” said the group’s latest report, released on Sunday, referring to the Russian security agency.
Despite historically low relations between Washington and Moscow, the United States (U.S.) warned Russia that ISIS militants were planning an attack in the country.
Earlier in March, the U.S. Embassy warned of an increased threat of terrorist attacks in Russia, and Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said the U.S. shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with the “duty to warn” policy.
U.S. Warned, But…
But in a speech just days before the attack, Putin dismissed the U.S. warnings as “provocative,” saying that “these actions resemble direct blackmail and intent to intimidate and destabilize our society.”
Putin, who recently won reelection and secured another presidential term, has repeatedly suggested, without evidence, that Ukraine assisted in orchestrating the attack. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the attack.
Former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev, a Kremlin critic in exile, said the latest evidence raises serious questions for Russian leadership and its security forces.
“We very clearly see that Vladimir Putin could have reacted to numerous warnings,” he stated, Forbes writes.
E.Dz.
