Diplomat says world often ignores Russia's warnings on terrorists

ARTEK (YALTA), July 7 /TASS/. The world remembers terrorists’ Russian citizenship only after they have staged a terror attack. Prior to that, all extradition requests by Russia and warnings that these terrorists are dangerous are ignored, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"We have seen media reports that Chechen militant Akhmed Chetayev could have organized a terror attack in Istanbul. Russia put him on the international wanted list in its time on charges of involvement in terrorist activities," Zakharova said commenting on reports that a native of Chechnya could be behind the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul.

Neither Austria nor Sweden, where Chetayev was later detained, had reacted to Russia’s requests on his extradition. This is also true of Britain where terrorists who fled Russia have launched an information campaign to support their followers at home. "But the British media calls them insurgents rather than terrorists," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Zakharova could not but recall a terror attack in Boston. "Russian security services gave the names of concrete people who were involved in the Boston terror attacks to their American colleagues. The latter replied that those were their people and that everything was fine. But when ‘their people’ stage bloody terror attacks, they are called Russian citizens," the Russian diplomat stressed.

"They do not extradite them [terrorists] to Russia and they do not punish them in their home countries. But whenever they [the terrorists] commit a crime, they turn out to be Russians," Zakharova went on to say.

In conclusion, Zakharova said that Russia was closely watching the investigation into the Istanbul terror attacks. "I do not know anything about other perpetrators but I will ask the law enforcers for more information," the Russian diplomat said.