Did the U.S. Embassy in Russia issue a security alert 48 hours before the Moscow terror attack on March 22, 2024? No, that's not true: The sole security alert posted by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for the month was on March 7, 2024. That was 15 days before gunmen stormed Moscow's Crocus City Hall and killed more than 140 people.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X (formerly Twitter) by StellaMoscow on March 22, 2024. The caption for the post said:
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Mar 29 14:27:05 2024 UTC)
Security alert
The screenshot of the security alert from the U.S. Embassy & Consulates In Russia is accurate except for one key detail: It omits the original security alert's March 7, 2024, release date.
StellaMoscow posting the screenshot on X on the day of the March 22, 2024, assault on the concert hall implies that the embassy had warned U.S. citizens just before the attack "to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours."
In fact, the embassy website (archived here) shows the alert was published there on March 7, 2024 (circled in red below) -- not 48 hours but more than two weeks ahead of the attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall:
(Source: U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia website screenshot taken on Fri Mar 29 16:20:10 2024 UTC)
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Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims about the March 22, 2024, attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall can be found here.
