MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has apprehended two religious figures in Tyumen in Siberia who recruited and sent 19 Russian nationals to join an international terrorist network in Syria, the FSB said.

"The FSB jointly with the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Interior Ministry foiled a network in the Tyumen Region sponsoring an international terrorist organization outlawed in Russia," the FSB said.

Two religious figures, being Russian nationals and supporters of an international terrorist organization, have recruited 19 locals on errand from terrorist emissaries who subsequently went to Syria to engage in terrorist activity, the FSB specified. "In addition, they set up a funding channel for the international terrorist organization and promoted terrorism on the Internet, harming Russia’s security," the FSB added.

The Investigative Committee has opened criminal cases. An investigation and searches are ongoing.