Russia: Boston Marathon Attacks Were Avoidable; Sent a Letter on Terrorist to FBI, Got No Response

A U.S. congressman said yesterday that Russian security officials told a congressional delegation in Moscow this week that the Boston Marathon bombing could have been prevented, if the U.S. had acted on information Moscow had provided, the Washington Post website reports today (June 1, 2013).

U.S. Rep. William Keating (D-Mass.) said the six congressmen met with the Russian senior Federal Security Service (FSB) and counterintelligence officials on May 30, and saw a copy of a letter Russian officials said they sent to the FBI in March 2011 that provided details about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the bombing suspects.

The letter from the FSB -- read to the delegation by a translator -- suggested that Tsarnaev was far more committed to jihad than had been earlier reported. He became radicalized in Boston in 2010, the FSB said, and wanted to join Palestinian fighters -- an idea he gave up because the Arabic language gave him too much trouble.

The letter asked U.S. officials to notify Russia if Tsarnaev headed to his native Dagestan -- a predominantly Muslim-populated province in the Caucasus region of Russia. "They said there was no response," Keating said. The same letter, they said, was also sent to the CIA. "I was quite surprised, and I wasn't alone," Keating said. "They said they had identified him and they never got a reply. They said that repeatedly."