MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. Russia's federal security service FSB has said a group of Central Asia-born terrorist recruiters has been detained in Yekaterinburg. The detainees had contacts with terrorists in the Middle East and were persuading labor migrants to join terrorist activities, the FSB said in a news release received by TASS.

"The federal security service in Yekaterinburg has terminated the activity of a religious extremist cell of Central Asia-born activists. It has been established that the criminal group's members were propagating the ideology international terrorist organizations and persuading labor migrants to commit terrorism-related crimes in Russia," the FSB said.

The FSB's public relations center said searches were carried out and "material evidence gathered the detainees maintained contacts with the ringleaders of terrorist organizations in the Middle East and were persuading labor migrants to commit terrorism-related crimes in the territory of Russia."

Criminal proceedings have been launched.

"Further investigative measures and detective work are in progress," the FSB said.