Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute of the Wilson Centre, a Washington think tank, warned that ISIS has had Russia in its sights for years.
He told the South China Morning Post that ISIS “rarely claims attacks it doesn’t carry out.”
He added: “It’s one of the only global terror groups with the capacity to pull off a sophisticated attack like this. And the group has had Russia in its crosshairs for a long time.”
According to reports, the attack was carried out by a branch of ISIS called Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).
Gen Michael Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, recently said: “ISIS-K and its allies retain a safe haven in Afghanistan, and they continue to develop their networks in and out of the country.
“Their goals do not stop there. They have called for attacks globally on anyone not aligned with their extremist ideology, and Taliban efforts to suppress the group have proven insufficient.”
On March 7, Russian security services claimed they had foiled an attack planned by the group, targeting a synagogue in the Kaluga region near Moscow.
CNN reporters have also they have been warned “since November there has been ‘fairly specific’ intelligence that ISIS-K wanted to carry out attacks in Russia … US intelligence warned Russia about it”.
Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center told Reuters that ISIS-K has been “fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticising Putin in its propaganda.”
