NYT: US withheld from Russia part of data on terrorist threat in Crocus for fear of revealing its sources
The US intelligence services did not give their Russian colleagues all the information they had about the threat of a terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, because they were afraid to reveal their sources, RIA Novosti reports
Information about the US withholding information is reported by The New York Times, citing officials from European and American security services.
“The adversarial relations between Moscow and Washington prevented US officials from sharing any information about the plan (of the terrorists) beyond what was necessary, out of fear that the Russian authorities might learn their intelligence sources or methods,” the publication reads.
Earlier, the Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, stated that the information about the preparation of a terrorist attack in Russia in early March, transmitted by Washington, was of a general nature, and the special services of the Russian Federation reacted to it. At the same time, Mr. Bortnikov noted that the US information on planned terrorist attacks is not always specific, and wished it contained more details.
The attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, took place in the evening of March 22nd. Several people burst into the building and started shooting people at point-blank range with automatic rifles. They also set fires in a number of places, as a result of which the roof collapsed and the auditorium completely burnt out.
In the evening of March 27th, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations published a new list of those killed in the terrorist attack, which contains 143 names. According to the latest data, 182 people were injured.
A criminal case was initiated under the Terrorist Act article of the Russian Criminal Code.
The perpetrators were detained in the early morning of March 23rd in the Bryansk Region. They turned out to be citizens of Tajikistan. They were driving a car towards the border. Moscow's Basmanny District Court sent them under arrest until May 22nd. A total of 11 people were detained in the case.
