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Police in Moscow are on high alert after the United States warned of a possible terrorist attack near one of the city's most popular parks. Russia's FSB Security Service says it received information about preparations for an attack at the Saritzno Museum Reserve, a large park and palace complex in the Russian capital. The US embassy described the threat as credible and warned of a possible mass casualty event on October 31st. It says American and Russian officials are coordinating their response. We are joined by DW's Russia analyst Constantine Edgard. Constantine, what do we know about the nature of the threat warned by the US?
Not much, frankly speaking. U it is clear that the threat must have been uh fairly serious and the inference from the site uh that was mentioned uh by the US warning uh is that there was a certain number of people probably fairly large number of people there or was supposed to be there and allegedly they were targeted but this is just inferences we know very little about the nature of the threat pretty much nothing. I would say well you know the location uh and just the location makes me think that u it was a threat uh against some kind of mass gathering of people and that's pretty much a deduction. Okay. And Constantine tell us about the Sarit Museum Reserve. We are hearing that the authorities have closed the place.
Uh yes, it is a fairly large uh location. Uh it's an 18th century palace which was restored, I would even say to some extent rebuilt uh in the 1990s. Uh it used to be one of the Romanov dynasty uh travel palaces. U now it is a venue for concerts and uh basically it can be uh rented if you have enough money uh to hold a conference or a wedding or whatever. Um and there is a I think a museum there. I haven't been there for quite a long time I must say. Um so it is pretty it's not very central in Moscow. Uh it's rather in the south, but it is within the city limits definitely and there's a large park around which is quite a popular location for the Moscowites to take their strolls on the weekend.
And the US embassy says it warned Russia of quote credible threat. I'm curious to know what does the term credible threat normally mean in a situation like this? Well, the US uh by that means that uh they do know that there are serious and verified plans to strike this venue by whom we do not know. Usually uh these warnings are made uh by intelligence services. And moreover uh the US since 2015 when the then uh leadership of the CIA uh declared that the US has a duty to warn uh not only the US citizens and US entities but other countries and other entities if there is this kind of imminent or credible threat. uh and uh so I think that uh in this respect we
may be talking about really a terrorist threat. Uh and uh I think that uh otherwise the US uh would not have been warning the Russians for example if it was connected in some way uh to uh Russia's aggression against Ukraine. So you're saying that the US has sort of like a duty to inform. Russia's FSB, the Federal Security Service also says that it had received information from the United States and what it says through established partner channels. So is it like do is there a special um channel between USRussia counter intelligence uh sharing or is it something just as you have said it's a normal practice by US intelligence agencies?
Well, there are established uh established contacts or rather established channels of communication on issues like terrorist threats which unite sometimes even adversaries. Uh so these are I think very much really established ways of communicating uh which are supposed to be maintained in order for these uh sort of um pieces of information uh to be credible and for this information to be trusted by the side uh that is being worn. So uh I would say that for security services uh for counter intelligence agencies in different countries uh these are standard procedures and uh my understanding is that also it is usually a pretty quick um sort of connection uh because again the nature of the situation uh may be also pretty urgent
and uh the US had warned Russia ahead of the 2024 Crocker city hall attack and there were reports at that time that Russia had not responded to the US warning on time. Ultimately in the attack around 100 people were killed. So are we seeing Russia being more proactive this time? Well yes I mean the FSB Russia's secret police which also doubles as you know counter intelligence service. have to remember that um they're not known for their huge competence and their mistrust of the Americans is well I mean I think pretty well known um and Kro City Hall was really tragic thing when the Islamist um ISIS uh linked group uh attacked a concert at this huge venue near Moscow and uh actually the number of casualties was to the best of my
knowledge to the best of my recollection was about 150 people and I think 600 or 500 something uh were injured. Uh so yes this is the thrust of mis this is the cost of mistrust uh in such circumstances but it seems that this time uh the Russians reacted pretty quickly and there are there is information from Moscow that uh they were evacuating uh tarit uh thing is that it's a different venue it's not you are not going to hold a concert massive uh pop concert as it was in Crocco city hall in 2024 before. So my understanding that it was either well maybe a classical music concept or which I think is more likely some kind of private party uh or private event uh that uh was under threat from these unknown uh sources of threat.
Okay. So you're saying that we of course we don't know where this who has threatened uh or who is behind this you know potential attack. The Islamic State as you mentioned the Islamic State Hurasan group had claimed responsibility for the 2024 attack. I'm curious to know who may be threatening to attack Russia this time. Uh well why not Islamists again? Uh it's something that is strange in these circumstances. Islamist attacks in Russia are not very frequent, but they do happen. Um, and I do think that um it is something that is not connected to Russia's war against Ukraine. That's what I thought. Uh, but okay, everything can happen. I mean, we don't know anything. Maybe now the US cooperates
with the Kremlin in such a way that even warns about Ukrainian attacks. But my suspicion is that it is something that has uh different origin. Let's put it like that. And Constantine uh I'm also curious to know that how is it that the US has such a strong intelligence network in Russia that they are the ones alerting Russians. Well, you do not have to have a massive intelligence network in Russia, although I'm sure the Americans have it and they always had it. Um I think that now with the human intelligence uh electronic intelligence satellite there are so many ways of gathering intelligence information. Well let us say somewhere in Afghanistan and analyzing it and making a conclusion that there's going to be an attack in
Moscow. I mean it's not something that is uh exceptional in modern days. the facets of intelligence gathering are multiple and uh on the other hand I'm certain that the US has its intelligence network in Russia uh so I won't be surprised but what I can say is that this information may not necessarily come from inside Russia okay DWSR Russia analyst Constine Edgar thank you so much and what do you Why is the Trump administration sharing information about potential terror attacks with the Kremlin? Share your views in the comments. Till next time, goodbye.
