MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Ukraine’s intelligence is actively recruiting Islamist militants in Syria and Africa to carry out terrorist operations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at an embassy roundtable discussion to settle situation around Ukraine.
"Now there is information that Ukrainian envoys, those of Ukrainian intelligence, are in the Idlib de-escalation zone on the territory of Syria, where they are recruiting militants of Jabhat al-Nusra, now called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (terrorist group outlawed in Russia - TASS), in order to involve them in new hideous operations planned," the Russian foreign minister said. "They are already looking further south, to the Sahara-Sahel zone of the African continent, where they are also carrying out terrorist attacks on government troops of numerous countries together with recruited extremists."
Lavrov drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian intelligence had involved radical Islamists in preparing and carrying out the bloody massacre at Crocus City Hall concert venue. "The investigation is still underway, but it has already revealed evidence that the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry was involved in the preparation of the terrorist attack," he informed. "In particular, the escape routes of the killers across the Russian-Ukrainian border were planned in detail."