THE UNITED NATIONS, July 20. /TASS/. The United Nations Security Council has extended sanctions against the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda (both terror organizations outlawed in Russia) by blacklisting eight individuals and companies. A US-drafted resolution was adopted unanimously on Thursday.

Four more names will be added the ISIL & Al-Qaida Sanctions List, that includes over 250 individuals, groups and organizations linked to the IS and Al-Qaeda. These are Malik Barkhanoev and Murad Margoshvili who are on the Russian wanted list and are taking part in fights in Iraq and Syria within terror groups, as well as two Indonesians, one of whom - Bahrum Naim - is said to be the organizer of the January 14, 2006 Jakarta terrorist acts.

Besides, two financial organizations-Iraq’s Selselat al Thahab Money Exchange and Syria’s Hanifa Money Exchange Office that cooperated with the IS and two terror groups currently operating in Syria - the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army and Jund al-Aqsa - were added to the list.

The Jund al-Aqsa terrorists took part in the massacre at the village of Ma’an which was mostly inhabited by Alawites - followers of Alawite Islam, to whom Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad belongs. According to the resolution, the listed individuals and organizations are subject to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

The document adopted by the Security Council unites the provisions of many resolutions devoted to the fight against terrorism. In particular, it stresses the necessity to suppress financing of groups and organizations that are on the UN lists, as well as exchange information about individuals involved in terrorist activities.

 

Not all of Russia’s proposals taken account of

After the vote, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Vladimir Safronkov said that the resolution "was an important step to strengthen the anti-terrorism regime."

"Now all the member countries without any exception need to implement fully and dutifully the clauses of that milestone decision by the UN Security Council. There can be no double standards," he said.

Nonetheless, he regretted that the resolution "has not taken account of concerns of the Security Council’s members’," and it did not include Russia’s proposal to impose a total ban on any trade and economic ties with the areas controlled by Islamic State.

"One should be aware that terrorists are engaged in large-scale smuggling of hydrocarbons and other goods across the border. Illegal business fetches tens of millions of dollars to them monthly. Terrorists funnel the money to buy weapons and ammunition and that hinders any forcible activities," Safronkov said.

Russia will continue insisting on this and other measures "aimed at full financial and logistic isolation of terrorist groups."

Meanwhile, China’s Ambassador Liu Jieyi, who chairs the UN Security Council in July, urged the nations to coordinate their efforts against terrorism.

"We hope that both the states and UN Secretariat will strictly comply with the resolutions and continue cooperation with the committee [UN Security Council’s ISIL (Da'esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee] so that we all can ensure efficiency of the sanctions," the diplomat said.

UK’s Ambassador Mathew Rycroft noted that the terrorists mentioned in the resolution were from Russia and Indonesia, which proved that a global response was needed to the threat.