Putin Faces Fresh Embarrassment Over Terror Failure

The U.S. government told Russian officials about a planned threat of an attack on Crocus City Hall, more than two weeks before terrorists stormed the Moscow concert venue and killed 144 people.

The report by The Washington Post also adds to questions about Vladimir Putin's explanation for the terror attack and security lapses in Russia. There, protesting can result in lengthy jail terms, yet, with little impediment, gunmen could enter a building, start shooting and set it on fire.

A branch of the Islamic State has said it carried out Russia's worst terrorist attack for two decades on March 22, with U.S. officials saying Islamic State-Khorasan was solely responsible. Newsweek has emailed the Kremlin for comment.

Kevin Riehle, author of The Russian FSB: A Concise History of the Federal Security Service, told Newsweek: "The Crocus City Hall terrorist attack in Moscow shows the depths to which Moscow's relations with the West have fallen.

"The U.S. and U.K. governments tried to share counter-terrorism intelligence, only for the FSB to ignore it," added Riehle, lecturer in intelligence and security studies at London's Brunel University. He said this "bodes poorly for Russian security in the future."

Vladimir Putin had dismissed U.S. warnings three days before the attacks as "blackmail" and, along with other Russian officials and Kremlin propogandists, made claims of Western and Ukrainian involvement, without providing evidence.

Sergei Naryshkin, who heads the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said on Tuesday that U.S. warnings were "too general," reiterating what Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov had said last week about getting information that was broad but seemingly not actionable.

However, U.S. officials contradicted this, telling The Washington Post that Moscow had been told that Crocus City Hall was a potential target. The information was passed on to Russia a day before the U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued on March 7 a warning to American nationals to avoid mass gatherings.

Washington often shares terror warnings with foreign countries, under a policy known as the 'duty to warn.' However, it is unusual to give information to an adversary because this may reveal how intelligence was obtained, potentially risking sources.

There are signs that the Russian government had taken seriously Washington's warning at least initially, with the FSB announcing the day after it had received information that it had prevented an Islamic State attack on a synagogue in Moscow, The Washington Post said.

However, it is unclear why security wasn't increased and sustained after the initial warning. The newspaper said U.S. officials had speculated one reason could be that Russia's security services had assumed the information was incorrect after seeing no attack in the days soon after that March 7 warning.

Russian state media outlets such as RBC, TASS, and Izvestia all reported The Washington Post's claims, which the Kremlin has not responded to.