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Terrorist groups actively recruiting new members in Central Asia, says Lavrov

Earlier, CSTO Deputy Secretary General Pyotr Tikhonovsky said the CSTO nations would consider in November a collective action plan to implement the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

UNITED NATIONS, September 25. /TASS/. Different terrorist organizations are actively recruiting new members in countries of Central Asia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday, adding that fight against this is among the priorities in the activity of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

"Recurrent raids of foreign terrorists in countries of Central Asia, as well as recruitment activity of different terrorist organizations functioning in the region, including those linked with ISIS (former name of the Islamic State terror group outlawed in Russia) cause concern," Lavrov told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

"Fight against having citizens drawn into terrorist activity at all stages - from the stage of ideological indoctrination to their return from regions with an increased terrorist activity after gaining the so-called combat experience" is among the focuses in the SCTO work, the top Russian diplomat said.

"Concrete measures are taken to block the channels for recruitment to terrorist groups and to fight illegal migration," he went on to say. "Much attention is paid to revealing the threats in the Internet environment, which has become an instrument in spreading extremist ideas," Lavrov stressed.

He also pointed to a sizable contribution of the CSTO, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to work to counter terrorism and strengthen stability in Central Asia.

Earlier, CSTO Deputy Secretary General Pyotr Tikhonovsky said the CSTO nations would consider in November a collective action plan to implement the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.