United States officials claim Russian intelligence withheld valuable information about Boston Marathon bomber Tamerian Tsarnaev when the country reached out to the FBI.
Russia alerted the FBI about text messages between Tsarnaev, his mother, and a Russian relative. However, the officials did not release the details of the texts. The conversations imply Tsarnaev wanted to join militant groups Russia blames for attacjs in the Caucasus region.
There were reports after the April 15th bombing that Russia tried to warn the US about Tsarnaev, but officials said the information in these texts would have led to a more extensive examination of Tsarnaev. Russia did not share the texts until a week after the bombing.
After Russia warned the US in 2011 the FBI requested more information, but received none. When he returned to Russia he stayed at an apartment in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala. Local officials were responsible for the surveillance and they are not allowed to communicate with the FBI or CIA. If they need to talk to the US all requests must go through Moscow. While there he was in touch with radical groups and met with at least one Islamic fighter.
The Wall Street Journal details what happened between the first formal request from Russia to the US on March 4, 2011 to his trip back to Dagestan:
The Russian request was forwarded to the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston. There, FBI field agents and other officials translated the letter and worked to identify Mr. Tsarnaev based on U.S. immigration and other records.
Once they had identified Mr. Tsarnaev, a U.S. Customs agent entered his name into a Treasury terrorism database. That system, known as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, sends alerts to U.S. security officials when someone in the system is, say, preparing to travel by air.
Five days later, FBI asked the Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, for more information and received no response, one U.S. official said. Officials say the information from Ms. Tsarnaeva’s texts would have allowed them to get wiretapping authority.
The FBI conducted a standard 90-day inquiry, including searches of public databases, its own files, and those of other agencies, as well as a voluntary interview, U.S. officials said. Mr. Tsarnaev provided his correct birth date, which was different from the two provided by the Russians.
Under FBI guidelines, any suspicious activity could have prompted a preliminary or even a full investigation. Agents found none and the FBI closed the case in June.
On Aug. 8, the FBI made another attempt to get additional information from the FSB, and received no response, a U.S. official said.
Communications between the countries are now stronger, but officials say Russia is still not fully cooperating and have not handed over any information about Tsarnaev when he was on his trip.
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