MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. The United States is actively attracting militants of the international terrorist organization Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) in the capacity of mercenaries, the chief of the foreign intelligence service SVR’s press bureau, Sergey Ivanov, said on Tuesday.

"According to the foreign intelligence service’s sources, the United States is actively attracting members of international terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State group, outlawed in Russia, to participation in hostilities in Ukraine in the capacity of mercenaries," he said.

Ivanov recalled that in April 2022 US secret services played a role in the release of about 60 Islamic State militants aged 20-25 from Syrian Kurds-controlled jails. The militants were then moved to the area of the US military base Al-Tanf, in Syria, near the border with Jordan and Iraq, for combat training and eventual relocation to Ukraine. "According to the SVR’s sources, the aforesaid military bases and its environs have long become a terrorist hub, where up to 500 Islamic State militants and other jihadists loyal to Washington undergo retraining simultaneously," the SVR’s spokesman said. He stressed that South Caucasus- and Central Asia-born natives enjoyed priority.

"Their special groups are tasked mostly with carrying out acts of sabotage against Russia’s forces in Syria and also in Ukraine," Ivanov said. The course of training at Al-Tanf, he stressed, includes instruction in the use of the available types of antitank missile systems, reconnaissance and attack drones MQ-1C and forward communication and observation means.

"The above facts indicate that in pursuit of its geopolitical aims the United States does not stop at using any means, including the sponsorship of international terrorist groups," Ivanov said. "The Biden administration does not care about the effects of this, even if the security of European allies and the lives of US citizens are at risk".