U.S. Embassy Warned of Risk of Mass Casualties at the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

On February 20, 2022, the embassy reported possible attacks on shopping centers, railway stations, metro stations, and other public places in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in areas bordering Ukraine. The next day, it explained that the warning was related to reports in Russian media about mass “bomb threat” alerts targeting public buildings. Four days after that, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On March 7, 2024, the embassy again reported that it was tracking reports that extremists were preparing an attack on places where large crowds gather in Moscow, including concerts. Americans were then advised to avoid crowds for the next 48 hours.

Twelve days later, on March 19, Vladimir Putin called Western warnings about terrorist attacks “provocative statements” and said at a FSB board meeting that this looked like “blatant blackmail” and an attempt to “intimidate, destabilize our society”. Three days later, on March 22, terrorists attacked the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, and about 150 people were killed.

Later, The Washington Post found that as early as March 6, U.S. intelligence agencies had passed Russian authorities information that explicitly named Crocus City Hall as a potential target of attack. This publication became one of the reasons for discussing how American warnings about security risks relate to the events that followed in Russia.