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Chechen leader says two kids rescued in Syria return to Russia

Member of the Chechen Human Rights Council Kheda Saratova earlier told TASS that more than 100 women and children would return to Russia before the end of this year.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Two more children rescued in Syria have returned to Russia, head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said.

"Another operation to rescue Russian citizens from Syria and Iraq has turned out to be a success. An aircraft from Istanbul landed at Grozny Airport overnight to Saturday. Among the passengers were two Chechnya-born kids - ten-year-old Islam and eight-year-old Tanzila," he wrote on his Instagram page.

Kadyrov noted that the children had been taken out of Chechnya by their father Zauerbek Tokayev who left for Syria in 2015 to fight alongside terrorists. He has been put on the federal wanted list now.

Member of the Chechen Human Rights Council Kheda Saratova earlier told TASS that more than 100 women and children rescued from hotspots in Syria and Iraq would return to Russia before the end of this year. In addition to that, another 700 individuals expressed the desire to return to their home country.

More than 90 people have returned to Russia from Iraq and Syria over the past four months. Among them are residents of Chechnya, Dagestan, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, the Tver Region as well as Kazakh and Uzbek nationals. According to Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova, about 500 Russian children currently remain in the armed conflict zones in Syria and Iraq.