Russian police waiting for Moscow student’s explanations about her trip to Turkey, Syria

MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/. Russian police are set to get explanations from the Moscow student Varvara Karaulova why she left for Turkey and Syria, the Russian Interior Ministry’s press service said on Thursday.

Varvara Karaulova, who was detained in Turkey when she was trying to cross the border into Syria on allegations that she had intended to join a terrorist organization, is expected to arrive in Russia, her father’s lawyer, Aleksandr Karabanov, told TASS earlier.

On May 27, the 19-year-old Moscow student left home pretending she was heading for the university, but never came back. Later on, she was traced to have secretly taken a flight to Istanbul. On June 2 the Interpol launched searches and two days later, on June 4, its Turkish staff detained Karaulova and another twelve Russians who were trying to cross the border into Syria. They are believed to arrive in Turkey with the aim to reach Syria via the Turkish southern border and to join militants.

On Wednesday Elena Aleksyeva, the spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry, told TASS that Karaulova would be questioned at a police station after her arrival in Russia.

"Taking into regard that inquiries into Varvara Karaulova’s case were launched and evidence of her possible recruitment [by the Islamic State] was registered at the Moscow police department, Ms Karaulova will be delivered to a police station for questioning upon her arrival in the Russian Federation," she said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Investigative Committee’s Moscow department has launched inquiries into the student’s possible recruitment.

"Moscow has organized a pre-investigation check to establish whether the student had been induced to join an extremist group," Vladimir Markin, the Committee’s spokesman, told TASS earlier.