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Russia sought FBI help to probe Boston suspect
Posted April 21, 2013 10:54:01
Photo: Russia's Federal Security Service made a request for checks on Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011. (Storyful: The Sun of Lowell, Massachusetts )
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US law enforcement sources say Russia asked the FBI to investigate Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011, out of concern he would travel to Russia to join underground groups.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) made a request for checks on Tsarnaev - who was killed after a shootout with police on Thursday (local time)- to help an investigation of its own, a US government source said.
The Russians were not tipping off the FBI about a plot in the US or any threat posed to US interests, a law enforcement and national security source said on condition of anonymity.
Read our profile of the Boston bombing suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The fact that there was no warning about an attack in the US may help shield the Obama administration, spy agencies and law enforcement from criticism that they failed to see the danger from 26-year-old Tsarnaev and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, who are suspected of carrying out the twin bombings that killed three people and injured around 180 at the Boston Marathon.
Russia is battling Islamist militants in the volatile North Caucasus where the Tsarnaev brothers - who are ethnic Chechens - have family ties.
Photo: Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, is seriously injured in a Boston hospital. (www.fbi.gov)
But the number of tips from Moscow on possible terrorism cases is "not that many," a senior US law enforcement source said.
The FBI said a foreign government had raised the alarm over Tsarnaev but did not comment on whether it was Russia.
The bureau said it "did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign" after interviewing Tsarnaev and his family, and checking his travel records and Internet activity in 2011.
Those results were given to the foreign government in the summer of 2011, the FBI said.
The FBI found nothing to substantiate Russian allegations that Tsarnaev was a follower of radical Islam who was preparing to travel to Russia to join unspecified radical groups, a national security source said.
Tsarnaev flew to Russia the following year.
Official records show he left New York's JFK airport for Moscow in January 2012 and returned to the US on July 17.
The Chechen connection indicates we should work more closely with Russia and other nations who are also suffering the same kind of mayhem we have seen in Boston.
One of [the suspects] may well have been trained with terrorist weapons by radical elements overseas.
Republican representative Dana Rohrabacher
It is unclear what he did while in Russia, or whether he travelled elsewhere during that period.
Republican US representative Dana Rohrabacher said Tsarnaev may well have been trained overseas by "radical elements".
"The two young men directly involved in this terrorist attack were both Chechen and clearly influenced by radical Islam," he said.
"One of them may well have been trained with terrorist weapons by radical elements overseas.
"The Chechen connection indicates we should work more closely with Russia and other nations who are also suffering the same kind of mayhem we have seen in Boston."
Russian president Vladimir Putin has not commented on the identity of the two suspects, who moved to the US more than a decade ago after briefly living in Russia's volatile southern region of Dagestan.
Instead, he and Mr Obama made positive statements about cooperation on counterterrorism in a phone conversation on Friday, suggesting both sides see an opportunity to improve strained relations between their countries.
Photo: The casket containing the body of Krystle Campbell arrives at St Joseph Church for her funeral in Medford, Massachusetts on April 22, 2013. (Reuters: Brian Snyder)
Photo: A Russian social media profile photo of Boston marathons suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (AFP)
Photo: An aerial image shows police using a robotic arm to search the boat where suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was hiding in Watertown, Massachusetts on April 19, 2013. (Reuters: Massachusetts State Police)
Photo: Police guard the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is receiving medical attention, on April 21, 2013. (AFP: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
Photo: Investigators scour the boat where Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in the backyard of a Franklin Street home in Watertown, on April 20, 2013. (AFP: Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
Photo: A thermal image released by the Massachusetts State Police shows the boat and Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev inside on April 19, 2013. (AFP: Massachusetts State Police Air Wing)
Photo: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in a boat with wounds suffered in a gun battle with police. (AFP: CBS News)
Photo: A few of the estimated 200 people who poured onto Hemingway Street in the Fenway neighbourhood to celebrate after the announcement earlier of the capture of the second Boston Martathon bombing suspect celebrate on April 19, 2013. The bombing killed three people and wounded at least 170. (AFP: Kayana Szymczak)
Photo: People write on a wall of encouragement, including messages to victims of the Boston bombings, at the accreditation centre for the London Marathon on April 13, 2013. Britain is increasing police numbers by 40 percent for Sunday's London Marathon as part of an effort to reassure competitors and spectators after bombs devastated the Boston race on Monday. (Reuters: Luke MacGregor)
Photo: A boy visits a make-shift memorial on Boylston Street, near the scene of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 20, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images: Timothy Clary)
Photo: People wave US flags while cheering as police drive down Arlington street in Watertown, Massachusetts April 19, 2013. The second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was bleeding, seriously injured and being treated at a Massachusetts hospital on Friday after he was found hiding in a boat, state police said. (Reuters: Shannon Stapleton)
Photo: Law enforcement officials stand at the scene on Franklin Street as the search for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, comes to an end in Watertown, Massachusetts April 19, 2013. (Reuters: Lucas Jackson)
Photo: View of boat in backyard of Watertown home, where Boston bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is reportedly surrounded by police. (Google Maps)
Photo: Law enforcement approach an area reportedly where suspect 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is hiding on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts. (AFP/Getty Images: Darren McCollester)
Photo: A police SWAT team search houses for the second of two suspects wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts. (AFP: Timothy Clary)
Photo: The FBI release an image of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is suspected of the Boston Marathon bombings. (www.fbi.gov)
Photo: SWAT team members aim their guns as they search for one remaining suspect at an apartment building on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts. Earlier, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed at the school's campus in Cambridge. (AFP: Mario Tama)
Photo: US president Barack Obama and senior members of his administration are briefed on the manhunt for the Boston bombing suspect by national security officials and FBI director Robert Mueller, April 19, 2013. (Flickr: The White House)
Photo: Police search the area of Keenan street in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2013, as they hunt for a suspect in the Boston marathon bombing case. (Reuters: Shannon Stapleton)
Photo: Officials investigate the rooftop of a building above the finish line of the Boston Marathon, three days after bombings killed three people and injured 180, on April 18 2013. (Reuters: Shannon Stapleton)
Photo: Boston Police Department identify wanted marathon bombing suspect as 19 year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of Cambridge on Twitter. They say he is considered armed and dangerous. (Twitter: @Boston_Police)
Photo: Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev receiving a boxing trophy. He represented Team New England in the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in 2009 and 2010. (Storyful: The Sun of Lowell, Massachusetts )
Photo: A heavily armoured police officer patrols a street in Watertown, near Boston, on April 19, 2013. (AFP: Darren McCollester)
Photo: A bomb robot inspects the stolen car left on Laurel Street by the suspects of the MIT shooting and Boston bombings on April 19, 2013. (Twitter: jraske)
Photo: Armed police take up position at a Watertown home, near Boston, as photographed by a neighbour. (Twitter: shawna_england)
Photo: Police officers collect evidence from the apartment of Alina Tsarnaeva, sister of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, in West New York, New Jersey on April 19, 2013. (Reuters: Eduardo Munoz)
Gallery: Police search for Boston bombing suspect
Topics: terrorism, crime, law-crime-and-justice, united-states, russian-federation
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