The ‘Islamic State’ Claimed Responsibility For Terrorist Attack In Moscow Region

This information is confirmed by the American media.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall. American officials confirmed to The New York Times the authenticity of the group's statement.

In March, the United States received intelligence that an ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-K, was planning an attack on Moscow, sources told The New York Times. One American official said that ISIS members are “actively operating in Russia.”

A US official told CBS News that the US has intelligence to support ISIS' claim of responsibility for the attack and Washington has “no reason to doubt those claims”.

The New York Times also writes that in addition to the public warning on March 7, American officials privately informed their Russian counterparts about intelligence indicating an attack was being prepared.

Investigator Christo Grozev reported that the US Embassy warned Russian intelligence services about receiving “certain evidence” of the preparation of an ISIS-K terrorist attack. According to him, the Russian side responded that the information provided by the Americans was “not specific enough.” After this, as Grozev notes, there were still arrests in Russia of “certain members of ISIS cells.”

“That is, the FSB decided after all that they knew who to arrest, and they started making these arrests,” Grozev said.