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March 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued an urgent terror alert to American citizens warning them to avoid concerts and other large gatherings in the capital due to the "imminent" threat of an attack by extremists. The security alert posted on the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Russia website on Thursday said the embassy was "monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow."
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U.S. citizens are urged to avoid situations where large numbers of people congregate for the next 48 hours, be aware of their surroundings and monitor local media for updates.
Americans in need of assistance should contact the embassy on +7 (495) 728-5000 or +7 (495) 728-5577 in an emergency, it said.
The warning came after Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by an Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State group.
The FSB said in a statement that it had intercepted the Wilayat Khorasan IS-linked cell in Kaluga 90 miles southwest of Moscow in the midst of planning "a terrorist act against one of the Jewish religious institutions in Moscow."
The agency said the group was carrying out reconnaissance when it caught the attention of security forces leading to a shootout after the militants resisted arrest.
"Further active search measures established that they were militants of an international terrorist organization preparing an attack on the congregation of a synagogue with the use of firearms," the FSB said.
"During an operation to detain them, the terrorists put up armed resistance to Russian FSB agents and as a result were neutralized by return fire."
Earlier, the American embassy issued a statement protesting a move by the Kremlin on Monday condemning U.S. educational and exchange organizations as "undesirable."
The embassy said the designation, which also extends to more than a hundred mostly American, German, British and Ukrainian international non-governmental organizations, marked "a new low in the Russian government's crackdown on longstanding and entirely routine people-to-people programs."
It added that demonizing the premise of bringing Russians and Americans together on a human level and facilitating travel for professional and educational development was a "tragic illustration of the Kremlin's desire to isolate its own people, depriving them of the chance to network, expand their horizons, and contribute to building a more prosperous and peaceful world."
"Free and open societies have nothing to fear from engagement with other nations and people," said the statement which pledged the State Department would persist with its outreach and exchange visit-study programs and remain steadfast in its goal of maintaining bridges between the Russian and American peoples.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday over the U.S. government's support of three NGOs in Russia and ordered to withdraw all backing for the groups.
The affected bodies are the American Councils for International Education, Cultural Perspectives and Institute of International Education.
"The Ambassador was presented with an official note demanding to stop any assistance to the activities of these NGOs, which, if continued, will be considered as a violation of Russian law," the ministry said in a news release.
