IRKUTSK, May 26. /TASS/. Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov has warned of the threat of recruiting people from CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries who are among militants in Syria into proxy forces in the war against Iran.
"According to available information, Western intelligence services are continuing their attempts to use terrorist fighters from Syria as a proxy force in the war with Iran. These include individuals from CIS countries who fought for the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia - TASS) and other terrorist groups and later ended up in Syrian prisons," he said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services.
Militants are being transferred to specialized camps in Iraq, according to Bortnikov. "It’s clear that such militant agents can and will be used not only in the Middle East, but also in their countries of origin. The history of the Islamic State began with similar Iraqi prison complexes, which were under the protection of the Western coalition’s intelligence services," he said, adding that it was at this time that a significant rise in the number of supporters of jihadist ideology was recorded in CIS countries.
"Amid the current Iranian crisis this trend could intensify, while the source of the threat will be located in close proximity to the southern borders of the CIS," the FSB chief warned.