U.S. EMBASSY IN MOSCOW WARNS OF “IMMINENT” EXTREMIST ATTACKS

Fri 08 March 2024:

The US Embassy in Russia on Friday called on its citizens to avoid gatherings in Moscow for the next 48 hours, saying “extremists” have plans to target them.

“The embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts, and US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the diplomatic mission said in a statement on its website.

The embassy advised citizens to avoid crowds, monitor local media outlets for updates, and stay alert about their surroundings.

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Russia celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8 – a non-working day – when people band together to celebrate the holiday, which is also seen as the spring festival.

The embassy, which has repeatedly urged all US citizens to leave Russia immediately amid rising tensions between the two countries, gave no further details about the nature of the threat.

But it said people should avoid large crowds and events such as concerts and be generally aware of their surroundings.

“The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and US citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,” the embassy said on its website.

The warning comes just hours after Russian security services (FSB) said they had foiled a planned shooting at a synagogue by a cell from the Afghan arm of the so-called “Islamic State” militant group.

Russia says killed Islamic State militants planning attack on Moscow Synagogue#Gaza pic.twitter.com/zsvoIJkhb6

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 8, 2024

It was not immediately clear whether the two developments were linked.

There have been rising tensions in parts of Russia between the country’s Muslim and Jewish communities since the Israel-Hamas war.

Earlier this month, the FSB said it killed six IS fighters in the Muslim-majority southern region of Ingushetia.

Antisemitic sentiments boiled over in October last year when a crowd stormed an airport in Makhachkala, in the Republic of Dagestan in southern Russia, in search of Israeli citizens after word spread that a flight had arrived from Tel Aviv.

Russia accused Ukraine of fomenting the riot, saying it played a direct role, a claim Kyiv denied.

Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation,” has triggered the deepest crisis in Russian relations with the West since the Cold War.