“They are international terrorists”
Moscow, September 29 (Novy Region, Oleksandr Romchenko) – The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry acknowledged that the terrorist organization Islamic State includes Russians.
This was stated by the deputy head of the Russian MFA Mikhail Bogdanov, when commenting on the results of the ‘Ministry Week’ of the UN General Assembly Session 69 which ended yesterday. The main topic of the event was the fight against heightened activity of terrorist groups in the Near East, in particular, the most powerful of all, the Islamic State.
“The Americans say that terrorism poses a direct threat to their national security. I think the same can be said by any country, including Russia. The terrorist organizations, ISIL in particular, include Russian citizens,” Bogdanov acknowledged. “We are essentially dealing with international terrorism.”
According to him, people from 70 or 80 world countries are fighting in Iraq and Syria, in particular, there are several dozen Russians among them, according to the statement made by the Russian MFA representative.
Bogdanov noted that the presence of Europeans among the terrorists is particularly worrisome, which can easily cross borders of western states using their passports.
“Everyone is concerned that these people go there and come back from there. They receive training there, skills, and therefore pose an unprecedented threat to the national security of their countries. They have passports, in particular, of western states, which allows them to move around the world without visas and additional checks. It is very dangerous,” Bogdanov emphasized, calling for his western partners to unite their efforts in fighting the terrorists in the Near East.
