Skip to main content

Teenager’s TikTok video prompted U.S. warning of possible Moscow terrorist attack, Russia’s FSB says

Source: FSB

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said a teenager who posted a video on TikTok was the source of information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow, a threat the U.S. Embassy had warned about the day before.

The teenager has been detained. His name has not been disclosed.

According to the FSB, the video showed the teenager himself dressed in tactical clothing, a balaclava, a cap, glasses, and headphones, holding “an object resembling an automatic weapon.” It also included photos taken at the Tsaritsyno museum-reserve, captioned “I found a place.”

The FSB also said the teenager was subscribed to a “neo-Nazi channel” on Telegram and had searched for information about mass killings. It remains unclear which channel this refers to.

The FSB “expressed gratitude” to its American counterparts for the information about the planned attack, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia had issued a warning a day earlier about a threat of a terrorist attack on the grounds of the museum-reserve. The FSB confirmed it had received the warning from the United States and said it was reviewing the matter. The German Embassy in Moscow also issued a similar warning for its citizens. The museum-reserve closed that same day, citing “technical reasons,” and reopened the next day.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].

To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.