Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has sidestepped questions about whether Friday’s terror attack in Moscow constitutes a failure by Russia’s intelligence services.
On a call with journalists Monday, Peskov was asked whether the attack was “a failure of the intelligence services?”
Peskov responded: “There is currently a lot of emotional, hysterical, provocative content online. Clearly, this monstrous tragedy evokes a lot of emotions, but unfortunately, our world shows that not a single city or country can be completely immune to the threat of terrorism.”
“The intelligence services work tirelessly. They are dealing with all the threats, all the challenges that our country faces,” he said.
Peskov also said the fight against terrorism required “full-fledged international cooperation” but suggested that cooperation was not happening. He refused to comment on whether any warnings had been received from the United States about the risk of terror attacks in Russia.
CNN reported Friday that there had been a steady stream of intelligence that ISIS-Khorasan was determined to attack in Russia, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence.
“Intelligence is never provided to the Kremlin. It is provided through channels from one intelligence agency to another intelligence agency. This is classified as sensitive information that is not disclosed,” Peskov said.
In response to a question asking if there was any help provided from Western countries in view of the warnings, Peskov said: “Our [special] services operate independently. There is no talk of any help now,” later adding “there are currently no contacts with Westerners now.”
CNN’s Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.
