US Officials Trip Over Own Lies About ‘Warning Russia’ Ahead of Concert Hall Attack

Over 140 people were killed and 360+ others injured in a terror attack on Crocus City Hall, a Moscow region music venue, on March 22. Western officials and media rushed to claim that an IS* offshoot known as ISIS-K bears sole responsibility. Russian investigators point to evidence of involvement by NATO's clients in Kiev.

US officials and media have found it difficult getting their story straight regarding how much Washington knew about the Moscow terror plot before it transpired.

“I am not going to speak to intelligence information from here. I think that’s – I’ve always made that pretty clear,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Thursday, commenting on a New York Times report citing senior US and European officials indicating that the US did not share all the information it had about the plot “out of fear Russian authorities might learn their intelligence sources and methods.”

“We provided clear, detailed information to Russian authorities about terrorist threat – terrorist threats against large gatherings and concerts – notable word – in Moscow, and unfortunately I have to leave it at that,” Miller assured, referring to warnings and embassy advisories on March 7 and 8 about a “terrorist threat to large gatherings” urging US nationals in the Russian capital to “avoid large gatherings” over a 48-hour period.

Screenshot of March 7 warning by the US Embassy in Moscow advising US nationals to "avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours."

© Sputnik / Screenshot / usembassy.gov

Miller dismissed as “categorically false,” “irresponsible,” and “cynical” comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova regarding the US role in creating IS, and the speed with which Washington rushed to reject the Kiev regime’s potential involvement in the attack. “Ukraine wasn’t behind these attacks. The UK wasn’t behind these attacks. The United States wasn’t behind these attacks,” he said.

Separately on Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby went further, telling reporters that the US had not only informed Russia of the threat, but provided a “warning in writing to Russian security services.” The March 8 “public advisory” by the US Embassy “may have” even “deterred the attackers from attacking” on that day, Kirby claimed.

Miller and Kirby’s claims stand in stark contrast to comments by Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov on Tuesday that US information regarding the attack was “of a general nature” and that ISIS-K couldn’t have carried out the attack without external help.

Wednesday's NYT report challenges the White House's claims, and appears to confirm Russian officials' statements that the US warning was neither complete nor detailed.

On Monday, John Kirby contradicted the comments he would make a few days later, making clear that “there’s not going to be any security assistance with Russia and the United States,” and saying that US communications to Russia did not go beyond “a duty to warn them of information that we had.”

On Thursday, the Russian Investigative Committee announced the preliminary results of its probe so far, including “working with detained terrorists, analyzing the technical devices seized from them, analyzing information about financial transactions” which it said had uncovered “evidence of their connection with Ukrainian nationalists,” including financial transfers to the attackers.

US officials aren’t the only ones to have talked tough about their anti-terrorism bona fides in the wake of the Moscow concert hall carnage without offering any concrete cooperation to their Russian counterparts.

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Matron boasted that French intelligence had determined that “an Islamic State entity masterminded the attack and carried it out,” and claimed that Paris has offered Russia help to investigate the incident.

But Russia’s Foreign Ministry dismissed this information on Wednesday, saying Moscow “has not yet received any specific appeals and proposals from the French side.”

The US accused ISIS-K of sole responsibility for the March 22 incident almost immediately, while ruling out Ukrainian involvement, but has yet to provide any concrete evidence to media or to the Russian side regarding their evaluation.

* IS (also known as ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries