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Earlier this month, the US embassy in Russia said it was "monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow", including concerts. The embassy warned American citizens to avoid large gatherings. On Friday, after reports of the Crocus City Hall attack, she advised American citizens not to travel to Russia.
Since November, there has been a steady flow of intelligence that ISIS-K was determined to attack in Russia, according to two sources familiar with the information.
ISIS-K stands for ISIS-Khorasan, the branch of the terrorist organization that is active in Afghanistan and the surrounding region.
US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the US government had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow - which could target large gatherings, including concerts - and that this is what prompted the Department of the State to issue a public advice.
"The US government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its long-standing policy to warn," Watson said.
In a speech on Tuesday, Putin criticized the US warnings as "provocative", saying that "these actions resemble direct blackmail and aim to intimidate and destabilize our society".
In March alone, Russian authorities had thwarted several ISIS-related incidents, according to RIA. On March 3, RIA reported that six ISIS members were killed in a counter-terrorist operation in Karabulak Ingush; on March 7, she said that security services had discovered and "neutralized" a cell of the banned Vilayat Khorasan organization in the Kaluga region, whose members were planning an attack on a synagogue in Moscow; and on March 20, she said the commander of an ISIS militant group had been arrested.
A US official said on Friday that Washington had no reason to doubt ISIS' claim of responsibility for the latest attack. /CNN
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