The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Lebanon has been informed on May 28 that it may be targeted in ‘terror attacks, diplomatic sources revealed.

The Russian embassy has received information over potential attacks via letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), which was informed of that by the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

Internal Security Forces was surprised in such a practice, as the MoI was supposed to inform the Russian embassy, and not the MoFA.

Former Minister of Interior explained to Sawt Beirut International (SBU) that in such sensitive cases the MoI informs the MoFA to be aware of what is happening, and the MoI solely undertakes the task of informing the concerned embassy of the threat.

The source added: “We have followed up on the matter in Russia and we realized that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has received the same letter. However, the latter was not well-versed about the nature of the threat, and the source behind this information was not disclosed as well. Is he an intelligencer? Or this information is a result of follow-up and monitoring? Or is it a result of eavesdropping? This reality have added more confusion to the matter.

The Russia’s embassy in Beirut had previously been targeted in the year 1985, when the four Russian diplomats were kidnapped. Imad Mughniyeh and his team were accused at that time of the kidnapping. The second attack goes back to the year 2000, when Palestinians attacked the embassy with grenades.

The question that arises currently is who wants to target the Russian embassy in Lebanon and for what purpose? This matter has been a subject of discussion in Moscow, and conclusions indicated that the extremist groups are on the top of the detainees. However, another question arose in the Russian Foreign Ministry, “When the extremist groups had a robust presence in Lebanon, they didn’t make such an attack, so how they can do it when their presence is really weak and fragile? And if these threats are not from extremist groups such as ISIS, then from whom they are?

Moscow has many doubts about the seriousness of these threats, especially that the security measures taken by the security forces in Lebanon, after being informed of the threats, has been limited on sending a patrol of two members to monitor the embassy’s premises for two days before withdrawing again.

Moscow considers that if these threats were serious, then the way of dealing with it or informing Russia will differ. Instead of politically dealing with Russia through the MoFA, it could have been reached through the security parties of the two countries. Sources reveal that the security services in Russia have knew about the threats after the MoFA had been informed of it.

A question arises in this context, “Is there any political party among the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior in Lebanon who wants to benefit from a security file that is not yet serious, in order to improve relations with Russia for personal interests?”