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Up to 1,500 citizens from CIS states fight in ‘hot spots’ — Antiterrorism Committee

Among the citizens of CIS countries fighting in "hot spots" are up to 500 Russians, the first deputy chairman of the National Antiterrorism Committee Yevgeny Ilyin said

Andrey Przhezdomsky, a spokesman for the committee, told a news conference on Tuesday that besides people from Russia’s North Caucasus, terrorist groups were also joined by the so-called "neophytes," who converted to another religion and “they are all currently either on wanted lists or subjected to investigations.”

Przhezdomsky said the recruiters were well trained people, but “the main recruiter as of today is Internet.” According to him, Internet currently boasts “at least 10,000 resources” oriented on terrorism ideology.

“Half a thousand of them are in the Russian language, having youth as their targeted audience,” Przhezdomsky said. “Eighty percent of users are below the age of 30 years, but there are children as well.”