According to what they report intelligence sources at CBS, The United States “they had a series of information and signals on a possible ISIS attack in Russia since November“.
However the Russian president Vladimir Putin it would have rejected Western warnings about possible terrorist attacks in Moscow calling them “blackmail” just a few days ago. The US Embassy in Russia had published an alert on its website on March 7 advising American citizens to avoid large gatherings in the Russian capital, including concerts, for the next 48 hours due to possible terrorist attacks. A message that was also taken up by the British Foreign Ministry on its website. Last Tuesday (March 19), Tass reported that Putin – speaking at a meeting of the Federal Security Council – he had defined the West’s warning about possible terrorist attacks in the country as real “blackmail”. The Russian leader had recalled the “recent provocative statements by some Western official structures on possible terrorist attacks in Russia” and had commented: “It seems like real blackmail and an attempt to intimidate and destabilize our society”. Adding: “The West has practiced the use of all kinds of cross-border radical terrorist groups in its interests and encouraged their aggression against Russia“.
Moscow relives the terrorism nightmare
Moscow has once again experienced the worst nightmares of the Chechen terrorist attacks of the 90s when tonight a group of armed men, dressed in camouflage, broke into a concert hall north-west of the center and opened fire mercilessly on the spectators. According to some testimonies, the attackers would also have thrown grenades or incendiary bottles and shortly afterwards the entire building turned into a fire which was then tamed late at night. The victims would be 62, while the injured would be around 150including some children, is the still provisional budget provided by the Russian internal security services, FSB.
The claim
The authorities have opened an investigation for terrorism and a few hours later ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamic State militiamen, we read in a message on the jihadist group’s Telegram channel, “attacked a large gathering (…) on the outskirts of Moscow” and then “withdrew safely to their bases”. About two weeks ago the FSB said it had eliminated a cell of the Afghan branch of ISIS that was planning an armed attack on the capital.
The attack
The attack took place in the Krasnogorsk district, outside and inside the Crocus City Hall concert hall, the largest in Moscow with a capacity for over 6 thousand people, where the rock band Picnic was about to perform. About a hundred people were rescued from inside the hall or from the roof, where they had taken refuge and which then partially collapsed due to the flames. Some helicopters were flown in to put out the fire. The Italian embassy immediately took action to verify the possible presence of Italians, which at the moment there is no evidence of.
The video of the attack
In a video you can see the attackers – at least four, others say five – who approach, guns in hand, towards the entrance of the concert hall, located in the hall of a shopping centre, and shoot in cold blood at some people who are trying to take shelter in a corner. In another video, relaunched by Novaja Gazeta Europa, dozens of people can be seen crowding towards the exit of the building to escape the attack, while around dozens of bodies hit by gunfire can be clearly seen. According to unconfirmed information, 4 of the 5 attackers managed to escape after the massacre. Ria Novosti published a photo of the car used by the attackers to leave the scene of the massacre: a white Renault Symbol. All mass and entertainment events in Russia have been canceled for the next few days, while security checks on public transport and at airports have been tightened.
Attack in Moscow, shootings and massacre in the concert hall
The reactions
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed the Italian government’s “firm and total condemnation of this brutal act of terrorism”, stating that “the horror of the massacre of innocent civilians in Moscow is unacceptable”. The European Union also condemned the assault, e.g the White House he said his “thoughts are with the victims of the terrible attack”. According to the spokesperson of the National Security Council, John Kirby, “there is no sign at the moment of the involvement of Ukraine or Ukrainians in the shooting in Moscow.” “If the United States has or had reliable data on this matter,” the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry replied, Maria Zakharova – this data must be immediately shared with the Russian side. And if they don’t have information, the White House he has no right to pronounce acquittals against anyone.”
The US warning
Lo last March 7 the American embassy in Moscow had warned its citizens of possible terrorist attacks in the following 48 hours, especially at crowded events such as musical concerts. And CNN, citing “informed sources”, said that the US had warned Russia of the risk of attacks by ISIS.
The Ukrainians deny it
Also there Ukrainian presidency denied any involvement, as did the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), one of the paramilitary units included in the Kiev forces which in recent weeks have claimed responsibility for several infiltration attempts in the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk. However, the former president and current vice-president of the Russian Security Council immediately raised the tone, il falco Dmitry Medvedev: “If it were established that there are terrorists from the Kiev regime behind it, they will all have to be found and killed without mercy, including the leaders of the state that committed such atrocities”, he threatened on his Telegram channel. While from Kiev the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence spoke of the attack as “a deliberate provocation by the Putin regime“.
The American embassy’s alarm had been raised after, the day before, the FSB said it had foiled a gun attack against the faithful of a synagogue in the capital. Russian intelligence had specified that the attack it had been planned by a cell of Wilayat Khorasanthe Afghan branch of ISIS, which appeared for the first time in 2014, which aims to establish a new caliphate that brings together various Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, but also some former Soviet republics, such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.