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Russian security services control situation with Islamic State influence — Kremlin

Another Russian student is feared to have tried joining the Islamic State terrorist group
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov Artyom Korotayev/TASS
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov
© Artyom Korotayev/TASS

MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. The Federal Security Service (FSB) and other Russian intelligence services permanently control the situation regarding the involvement of citizens in the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) group, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, asked to comment on the cases of recruitment of Russian students by IS.

"The influence of terrorist organisations, the ideology of fundamentalism and extremism is within the NAC (National Anti-Terrorism Committee) competence and FSB jurisdiction," said the Kremlin official.

"It’s a very serious matter, because it’s a very dangerous process and all the intelligence services and other agencies are closely watching this issue," Peskov said.

According to earlier Tuesday media reports, a student of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) Mariam Ismailova has possibly tried to join the Islamic State terrorist organization. Presumably on June 12 she left her home in the west of Moscow, telling her relatives that she went to the university, and never returned since.

The student’s relatives believe that she has taken the path of another Moscow’s student - Varvara Karaulova, who has allegedly attempted to join the Islamic state, but was detained in Turkey on the border with Syria.

On May 27, Karaulova, 19, 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 12 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. Last Friday, Karaulova returned from Istanbul to Moscow. Upon arrival, she was questioned by investigators at Vnukovo airport and released.

Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said previously that there were no grounds for launching a criminal case against the student or detaining her. The committee’s Moscow department launched inquiries into the student’s possible recruitment. "Moscow has organised a pre-investigation check to establish whether the student had been induced to join an extremist group," Markin said.