The U.S. Embassy in Russia issued a warning on Thursday that Americans should avoid large gatherings in Moscow over the next 48 hours. The embassy said this was because of a potential terrorist threat in the city, but did not elaborate beyond mentioning the concert as a potential target. The embassy’s website now appears to be down.
“The embassy is monitoring reports of imminent plans by extremists to target large gatherings in Moscow, including concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings for the next 48 hours,” the alert reads. U.S. Department of State.
The alert continued: “As a reminder, our travel advice for Russia is Level 4 – Do Not Travel.”
Given the interest in the warning, it’s unclear whether the embassy website was taken down because too many people were trying to access it at the same time. But this seems like a logical assumption. The State Department did not immediately respond to emailed questions Thursday evening.
The Russian government announced early Thursday that it had killed an Islamic State militant who planned a terrorist attack on a Moscow synagogue, English media reported. moscow times. It was unclear whether the action was related to the U.S. State Department warning.
In recent years, relations between the United States and the Russian government have been extremely cold, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The war has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides, and the bloodshed shows no signs of ending. The United States supports Ukraine with weapons, financial aid and intelligence sharing, although U.S. support has waned as Republicans are no longer willing to provide money or guns.
Democrats issued an open letter to SpaceX leadership on Thursday about reports that Russia is using the company’s Starlink Internet satellite terminal. Selling terminals to the Russian military would violate U.S. sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, although SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has denied that the company knowingly sold terminals to Russia.
Russian state news agency TASS Reports on Thursday said U.S. exports to Russia totaled just $30 million in January, the lowest level since 1992, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.