Russian Embassy in Nigeria: No Information on Possible Attacks on Hotels

The Russian embassy in Nigeria has no information about possible terrorist attacks on hotels, where citizens of Western countries are staying, the diplomatic mission’s press service said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, US diplomats in Nigeria warned they received data indicating that terrorist groups might be plotting attacks on the country’s hotels frequented by western visitors.

According to the Russian mission, the intelligence data on possible attacks coming from the Nigerian authorities emerges quite often.

"In Nigeria, as you know, this happens often. This statement, this news is not something extraordinary. The fact that the US Embassy said that attracts attention. Such reports appear regularly in Nigeria," the Russian embassy told RIA Novosti.

Asked whether Russians often visited Nigeria, the embassy’s spokesman said that the country was regularly visited by Russian businessmen, who stay in hotels.

Moreover, there are several hundred of Russians living in the country on a permanent basis, he added.

Nigeria is fighting Boko Haram, a violent religious group that has killed some 17,000 people in the north of the country since 2009, according to Amnesty International pressure group.