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Recruiters for Islamic State group held in Russia's Chechnya — republic’s leader

Three IS supporters have been caught who tried to recruit people from respected families in Chechnya
Head of Russia’s North Caucasus republic, Ramzan Kadyrov TASS/Murad Nukhaev
Head of Russia’s North Caucasus republic, Ramzan Kadyrov
© TASS/Murad Nukhaev

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Chechnya's special forces have detained recruiters for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, the head of Russia’s North Caucasus republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Friday.

Three IS supporters have been caught who tried to recruit people from respected families in Chechnya, Kadyrov told the Russian New Service radio station, giving no details when the operation took place.

"They know that if a person from that family says something, this will be significant," the Chechen leader said. "That’s why they make every effort to recruit one such person than 100 others," he added.

Russia’s Aerospace Forces launched an operation against the positions of the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria on Wednesday. Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, unanimously gave the president approval to use the Russian Armed Forces abroad earlier that day.

Kremlin chief of staff Sergey Ivanov noted it was solely the operation of the Russian air forces against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria at the request of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ivanov noted that the number of Russian and CIS nationals in the ranks of the Islamic State terrorist group has been on the rise. "There are thousands of them, some of whom have returned to Russia. It does not take a clairvoyant to realize that such people will keep on coming back to Russia."

"Thus, we should pre-empt them and act while they are far away, rather than put off dealing with the problem for later, after they have gotten back to Russia," Ivanov added.