CNN writes that the security services of the Kremlin knew about the threat of ISIS a few days before the armed attack on a concert hall near Moscow, Russian intelligence documents obtained by a British investigative organization show.

According to the London-based Dossier Centre, the documents show that ethnic Tajiks radicalized by ISIS-K – the Central Asian branch of the ISIS terrorist group – may have been involved.

“Several days before the terrorist attack, members of the Security Council received a warning that citizens of Tajikistan could be used in terrorist attacks on the territory of Russia,” the group’s latest report, published on Sunday, said, citing the security agency.

“Immediately before the attack on Krokului City Hall, a source close to the special services informed File Center about it,” he added.

At the center of the dossier is a Russian investigative group backed by Mykhailo Khodorkovsky, an exiled former Russian oil tycoon turned Kremlin critic. He has previously leaked details about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime, often using documents and leaks from the Russian government.

The Kremlin did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the Dossier Center’s report.

On Friday evening, armed men opened fire on the “Crocus City Hall” concert hall near Moscow, and then set it on fire. In the first 24 hours after the armed attack, 11 people were detained, eight of them, including four suspects, were remanded in custody. Seven are from the Central Asian country of Tajikistan, and one is from Kyrgyzstan.

This is the deadliest attack in Russia in the last 20 years.

Russia is monitoring them after the attack on the embassy in Kabul

Former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev, an exiled critic of the Kremlin, said the latest evidence raised serious questions for Russia’s leadership and its security forces.

“We see very clearly that Vladimir Putin was able to act on numerous warnings,” he told CNN.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022.

The following year, German police arrested several people from Tajikistan accused of planning an attack on Cologne Cathedral, The Dossier Center reported. Alleged ISIS-K members were also arrested in Kyrgyzstan, accused of planning an attack on an Orthodox church.

According to the Center, Russian law enforcement agencies monitor all these messages and “take into account the risk” for Russia.

US warning

On March 7, the US publicly warned of the risk of an “imminent” terrorist attack in Moscow and said it had shared intelligence with Russia.

A few days before the attack, Putin, during a meeting with FSB officers, dismissed it as an attempt to “destabilize our society.”

The director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Moscow, Alexander Bortnikov, acknowledged on Tuesday that the United States had warned Russia of the danger of a terrorist attack in its capital, but he said the warning was “general”. Jellyfish

The Islamic State calls for jihad

An Islamic State spokesman praised the group’s attack on Thursday that killed more than 140 people at a Russian concert hall outside Moscow, Reuters reported.

Al-Ansari also repeated the call for the group’s supporters to attack the “crusaders” everywhere, especially in the United States, Europe and Israel.

“We ask God that you reach Palestine so that you can fight the Jews face to face in the endless religious war,” he said.

The Kremlin is trying to blame Ukraine

Russian investigators said Thursday they had found evidence that the concert hall attackers had ties to “Ukrainian nationalists,” a claim the United States quickly dismissed as unsubstantiated propaganda.

“Working with detained terrorists, checking the technical equipment seized from them and analyzing data on financial transactions made it possible to obtain evidence of their connections with Ukrainian nationalists,” the Investigative Committee of Russia wrote in Telegram on Thursday.

The head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Oleksandr Bortnikov said on Tuesday that the terrorist attack was prepared by radical Islamists with the support of Ukrainian special services.

And the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Mykola Patrushev, said on Tuesday that Ukraine was “of course” behind the terrorist attack, Reuters reports.

There is no evidence of Kyiv’s involvement in Friday’s attack on the outskirts of Moscow, four people closely connected to the Kremlin said.

In addition, almost no one in the political and business elite of Russia believes that Ukraine is behind the attack, the news agency was informed.