A leading Russian politician said Tuesday that the United States could have averted the Boston bombing attacks by listening to warnings about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
“The Russian side warned the American side about the Tsarnaev brothers, but this information was not taken seriously by the American side, which is what led to that tragedy,” said Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of Russia’s Senate, The Associated Press reported.
Russia’s intelligence agency warned the FBI in 2011 about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s plans to join terrorist forces in Chechnya, the AP said. The FBI only did the slightest of investigations into the intelligence, then closed the cases on the Tsarnaev brothers, AP reported.
This is not the first time Russia has claimed the United States could have avoided the April 15 bombings. Just a week ago, a U.S. politician returning from Moscow said intelligence officials with whom he met spoke similarly – that if only America had listened, the attacks could have been averted, various media reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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