The US had alerted Russia on the intention of ISIS fighters to target the nation in the days preceding the horrible attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue close to Moscow. But these cautions were written off by Russian President Vladimir Putin as "provocative."
Gunmen attacked the music hall on Friday, launching an incendiary bomb and starting fire, the biggest terrorist attack on the Russian capital in decades. ISIS has now taken credit for the bombing.
Putin is reportedly rather embarrassed by the extent of the bloodshed, some of which was seen on CNN-obtained video. He had triumphed in the nation's staged election just one week before, promoting a national security theme.
Critics contend that in addition to Russian intelligence services failing to stop the attack, Putin disregarded US warnings that Islamists were preparing to attack Moscow.
“Monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow,” including concerts, was the statement made by the US embassy in Russia earlier this month. It had advised US nationals to stay away from such locations.
"Shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding 'duty to warn' policy," stated US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
In an address on Tuesday, Putin denounced the American threats as "provocative," charging the US of trying to "intimidate and destabilise our society."
This position was adopted notwithstanding the fact that Russian authorities had documented multiple ISIS-related incidents in the last month.
State-run RIA Novosti reports that on March 3, a counterterrorism operation in the Ingush Karabulak claimed the lives of six ISIS members. It said on March 7 that security forces had located and "neutralised" a cell of the outlawed Vilayat Khorasan in the Kaluga area, whose members were preparing an attack on a Moscow synagogue. It announced the arrest of an ISIS battle group commander on March 20.
An ongoing stream of intelligence since November, according to two sources familiar with the American information, indicated that ISIS-K, an affiliate of ISIS active in Afghanistan and the surrounding area, was resolved to attack Russia.
Moscow has prominently gotten involved in the Syrian civil war, backing President Bashar al-Assad and fighting ISIS.
According to Reuters' citation of Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Centre in Washington, ISIS-K "sees Russia as being complicit in activities that regularly oppress Muslims." In addition, he said, the organisation consists of several militants from Central Asia who have personal complaints against Moscow.
Friday saw a US official declare that Washington had no grounds to question ISIS's assertion of credit for the most recent strike.
After the Crocus City Hall incident on Friday, the US embassy warned US nationals against visiting Russia.