US Privately Told Russia ISIS-K Was Planning Moscow Attack

After a period of relative quiet, the Islamic State has been trying to increase its external attacks, according to U.S. counterterrorism officials. Most of those plots in Europe have been thwarted, prompting assessments that the group had diminished capabilities.

"ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years," frequently criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin in its propaganda, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York. "ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow's interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria."

Putin Rejected Terror Alert Before Deadliest Attack in Decades

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed warnings of a terrorist threat days before the deadliest attack in Moscow in more than two decades killed at least 60 people and wounded 145.

www.bloomberg.com

Just like his buddy the Tangerine Tyrant, Pooty couldn't take possible life-saving advice at face value choosing instead to claim our warning was a political ploy to portray Russia negatively.

How's Russia looking in the light of this morning after the attack of last night, Vlad?

#1 why would you believe this?

Common freaking sense, that's why I believe it. I watched these events myself. The only new information now becoming public was that it was ISIS-K all along. Did you bother to read the information published weeks ago? The US Embassy specifically told Americans to avoid concert halls (among other larger gathering places) in its publicized warnings.

Putin called the US warning a "provocative" statement that resembled "outright blackmail and an intention to intimidate and destabilize our society."

And did you ignore that US Intel also forewarned Iran about ISIS-K attacking inside their country too prior to the 1/3 bombings?

The Kremlin's failure to stop an ISIS-K attack comes only a few months after the U.S. intelligence community had provided a similar warning of an ISIS-K attack to Iran - only to have the mullahs also turn a deaf ear to the words of the "Great Satan." The Islamic State was able to carry out two bombings in Iran on Jan. 3, killing more than 95 people in the town of Kerman who had gathered to commemorate the death in a U.S. airstrike of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, himself one of the chief organizers of terrorism in the Middle East.

The Iranian regime, like the Russian one, has undoubtedly overdosed on its own propaganda about America as its enemy - and thus refused to lend credence to what this supposed enemy was telling them. It does not require a psychology degree to detect the projection: Neither Vladimir Putin nor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could imagine informing Washington of a terrorist plot in the United States to save the lives of ordinary Americans, so these tyrants cannot imagine Washington trying to save Russian or Iranian lives.(same link as above)

The last line encapsulates the difference between you and me: I use logic and common sense when assessing intelligence pronouncements and you appear to rely on preconceived prejudices and conspiracies where none visibly exist.

It's smelled like a Putin/Russian false flag all along.

I fully disagree. If it were an intentional false flag Putin wouldn't have criticized the US for alerting him. If anything, he would have prenamed Ukraine as the one behind any such chatter. US Intel isn't the only one with ears and eyes on ISIS.

And even more importantly, ISIS-K has both a lengthy history of grievance with Russia most Americans have no idea about because we're not tuned into Eurasian regional beefs that don't directly impact us, our allies, or our troops.

Earlier this month, Russia's Federal Security Service said it had foiled an ISIS-K attack on a Moscow synagogue, the country's Tass news agency reported.

According to a 2017 report from the Soufan Center, which studies violent extremism, more foreign fighters joined Islamic State from the former Soviet republics than any other region. In 2015, militants in Russian provinces and republics pledged allegiance to the group and formed IS-Caucasus Province.

The Islamic State has carried out other major attacks on Russian interests abroad: In 2015, a Russian plane carrying 224 people exploded over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, killing all onboard. A local Islamic State branch claimed responsibility for the attack.

In 2022, several people were killed in an ISIS-K attack on the Russian Embassy in Kabul.

Russia's heavy-handed rule over the Muslim-majority North Caucasus region and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the long-running civil war have spurred jihadist narratives against Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

www.washingtonpost.com

It's really strange that the US, Russia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan actually have a singular common enemy that actively threatens each country simultaneously.