“According to press reports, there are threats of attacks in shopping malls, train and metro stations and other public places in major urban areas,” the embassy said in a statement that did not mention specific press articles.

And the embassy’s message to its nationals notes that the danger exists in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, “as well as in areas where tension is rising along the Russian border with Ukraine.”

Western countries have warned for weeks of Russia’s intention to attack the neighboring country that was part of its sphere of influence before the collapse of the communist bloc in 1991, accusing Russia of killing tens of thousands of men at the border.

The US Embassy also advises its citizens in Russia to “avoid crowding” and make “arrangements for evacuation without relying on US government assistance.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the embassy’s intervention on social media, questioning compliance with the protocol and “what should we do with it?” “.

Local authorities around Russia’s border with Ukraine have declared a state of emergency in recent days due to the arrival of evacuees from separatist-controlled Ukrainian territory.

More than 50,000 people have arrived in Russia since separatist leaders in Donetsk and Lugansk, the rebel regions, urged women and children to leave on Friday amid rising tensions, according to the Emergencies Ministry.

Ukraine has been fighting pro-Russian separatists since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea, and more than 14,000 people have been killed since then in the hostilities.