Starting Sunday night, France raised the nation's threat level awareness to its highest level of "emergency attack" - which comes two days after the Crocus City Hall attack which took the lives of at least 139 people, and has been claimed by the Islamic State.
President Emmanuel Macron had soon after convened a National Defense and Security Council to discuss the attack and examine France's exposure to a potential similar terror attack. "Following the attack in Moscow, a Defense and National Security Council was convened this evening at the Elysée by the President of the Republic,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X.
"Given the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attack and the threats weighing on our country, we have decided to raise the Vigipirate posture to its highest level: attack emergency," Attal continued, according to machine translation. There are three threat levels, and prior to Sunday it had remained at the middle level.
According to French media, this raised alert level "allows for exceptional security measures such as stepped-up patrols by armed forces in public places like train stations, airports and religious sites."
It is unclear whether it will remain in effect through this summer, when Paris 2024 Olympic Games – from July 26 to August 11 - will be held, but this is likely.
In the wake of the Moscow attack a number of countries in the West, including the United States, expressed sympathy and solidarity with the Russian attack victims - in a rare moment of positive feelings conveyed amidst the Ukraine war.
Moscow has signaled it is ready and willing to restore counter-terrorism cooperation agreements with Europe, after these were initially severed as a result of the war in Ukraine.
On Monday, Italy joined France in raising its security level, as the country is headed into Easter Sunday this weekend. "Both surveillance and checks will be increased, paying the most attention to the places of greatest aggregation and transit of people, as well as sensitive targets," Italy's Interior Ministry announced.
While the Kremlin has acknowledged that ISIS-K is issuing statements owning up to the attack, it has also pointed the finger at Ukraine, alleging that the attackers were seeking to escape into Ukraine territory with government help.
