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WORLD NEWSThursday 29 October 2015
Islamic State on recruitment spree in Russia
ARSEN MOLLAYEV
VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press
MAKHACHKALA, Russia
(AP) — The Russian prov-
ince of Dagestan, a flash-
point for Islamic violence
in the North Caucasus, is
feeding hundreds of fight-
ers to the Islamic State in
Syria — and now some are
coming back home with
experience gained from
the battlefield.
The departures mean that
the region itself has be-
come markedly less violent
recently with fewer bomb-
ings and shootings. And
the returning fighters have
either landed in jail or been
kept under close police
surveillance. But there are
long-term concerns that
the presence of radical
Muslims trained in IS war-
fare could lead to greater
instability and violence.
“We can’t allow them to
use the experience they
have just gained in Syria
back home,” Russian Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin said re-
cently.
Eduard Urazayev, a former
minister in Dagestan’s pro-
vincial government, and
now a political analyst,
said that poverty and un-
employment in the region
made the IS recruiters’ job
easier. “If the high level of official number of Dages-
corruption and unfavor-
able socio-economic situ-
ation remain,” Urazayev
said, “it may further fuel
protest sentiments and in-
crease sympathy for the
IS.”
The Islamist insurgency that
has swept Russia’s North
Caucasus after two sepa-
ratist wars in Chechnya has
a proclaimed goal of carv-
ing out an independent
state governed by Shariah
law. The Caucasus Emirate,
an umbrella group com-
prised of rebels in several
Caucasus provinces, has
sworn allegiance to the IS.
Alexei Malashenko, an
expert on Islam with the
Carnegie Endowment’s
Moscow office, said that
officials in the Caucasus
had an interest in encour-
aging the militants to move
out of the region.
“A drop in the Islamists’
activity and the reduction
in the number of casual-

In this Monday, Jan. 20, 2014 file photo, Russian special force soldiers wear masks during an anti- people.
terrorist operation in Makhachkala, regional capital of Dagestan, Russia. People from Kyrgyzstan
and other ex-Soviet Cen-
Associated Press tral Asian nations, where
the majority of the popula-
ties in the North Caucasus Gazimagomed Aligadzhi- bombings and other ex- tion is Muslim, have been
yev, a native of the moun- tremist attacks in the past. a top target for IS recruit-
in 2014-2015 were the result tainous village of Gimry, They included the 2002 ers. Poverty and lack of
a key center of Salafism hostage-taking raid on a jobs have pushed many
of militants leaving for the in Dagestan, was one of theater in Moscow, which to go to Russia to work as
those who left for Syria and left 130 hostages and all 40 migrant laborers, and Rus-
Middle East,” Malashenko spent three months at an attackers dead, and the sia’s economic downturn
Islamic State training camp 2004 seizure of a school in helped make the IS recruit-
wrote in a recent article. in Syria before he decided Beslan in southern Russia, in ment effort easier.
to come back. Upon return, which more than 330 peo- One such recruit, Babur Is-
Officials said they were he joined a local militant ple were killed and over railov, a 21-year old citizen
group but eventually got 800 others were wounded. of Kyrgyzstan, went viral on
keeping close watch on sick of hiding and turned In 2010, twin suicide bomb- the Internet last month: A
himself in to the authorities. ings on the Moscow sub- video showed him weep-
those who return. Dages- “We only went out at night, way killed 40 people and ing while climbing into a
as they could spot us in wounded over 120, and a vehicle rigged with explo-
tan authorities have tried daytime. I haven’t seen 2011 suicide bombing at sives, just minutes before
sunlight since December,” a Moscow airport killed 37 blowing himself up in a sui-
to register all followers of he told Russian state televi- and injured more than 180. cide mission in Syria.
sion. Alexander Bortnikov, the Those who knew Israilov
Salafism, a radical branch Even though some officials head of Russia’s Federal said he had gone to Rus-
in the Caucasus may feel Security Service (FSB), the sia in search of a job, and
of Sunni Islam, taking their relief about militants flee- main KGB successor agen- apparently was lured into
ing to Syria, the Kremlin cy, said recently that under joining the IS there. Kyrgyz
fingerprints and DNA sam- has voiced strong concern the brunt of Russian air- officials wouldn’t com-
about the potential threat strikes, some militants were ment on the case pending
ples. the militants could pose trying to leave the warzone a probe.
upon return. in Syria with a goal to con- Along with the poor and
Sharaputdin Arslan- Putin has described the IS duct terror attacks in Rus- the desperate, IS nets
threat to Russia as a key sia, Europe and elsewhere. have caught some mem-
bekov, a police official in factor behind his decision A few weeks ago, the FSB bers of the middle-class.
to launch air strikes on mili- arrested a group of peo- A second-year student of
Makhachkala in charge of tants in Syria. He said that ple, including some trained the elite Moscow State Uni-
between 5,000 and 7,000 by IS in Syria, who were versity, who studied Arabic
fighting extremism, said the people from Russia and accused of plotting a ter- and developed an interest
other former Soviet coun- ror attack on Moscow’s in Islam, left to join the IS
tries are now fighting along- public transport system. It but was detained on Tur-
side Islamic State militants. also found a home-made key’s border with Syria a
tan residents who have left Meanwhile, Russia’s air bomb loaded with five kilo- few days later after her fa-
campaign in Syria has grams of explosives. ther raised the alarm.
for Syria stands at 419, but drawn threats of retaliation IS has been active on so- Most local imams in Dages-
from militants there, rais- cial networks across Russia tan shun radical views, but
reliable intelligence indi- ing the danger of IS-driven and other ex-Soviet nations they have found it hard to
terror in a country that has in search of new recruits, counter the appeal of rad-
cates that the actual figure seen numerous suicide focusing primarily on young ical ideas promoted by the
Islamic State. Some imams
is around 700, a significant who spoke against radical
Islam have been killed.
share of an estimated 2,500 Muhammad-Haji, an imam
in Makhachkala, who
Russian citizens with IS. spoke on condition of ano-
nymity because he feared
Arslanbekov said IS recruit- Islamist revenge, said
many young people fell
ers were working actively under the spell of the ex-
tremist ideas and he found
in universities and schools, it hard to persuade them
to change their views.
taking advantage of eco- Tanya Lokshina, the Russia
program director at Hu-
nomic and social prob- man Rights Watch, said
that police abuses fueled
lems in the region. “The anger against the authori-
ties, contributing to the
recruiters are quite sly and popularity of IS among
young people in the
well-prepared, they know region.q
methods of ideological in-
doctrination and are good
psychologists,” he said.
Police captured five former
IS members and killed three
others, he said, adding that
nine of those who fought
alongside the IS in Syria
have voluntarily surren-
dered after coming back
home.