MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) – Four alleged Islamist terrorists from the southern Urals Republic of Bashkortostan have been arrested and charged with preparing a coup, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday.
The four men – named as Yevgeny Kulagin, Rasim Satayev, Alexei Khamadeyev and Aidar Garifyanov- are suspected members of Hizb-ut Tahrir al-Islami (The Party of Islamic Liberation), an international Islamist group banned in Russia since 2003, the FSB's Bashkortostan branch said.
The four were charged Tuesday with “preparing to forcibly take power” as part of the party’s drive to establish a “Worldwide Islamic Caliphate,” the FSB said in a statement.
The Bashkortostan’s FSB claims Hizb-ut Tahrir’s activities in Bashkortostan have become “more rigorous and provocative” since 2010 and that 10 residents of Bashkortostan have been convicted of membership of the group.
Hizb-ut Tahrir says its aim is to lead the world’s Muslims “so that Islam encapsulates the world,” according to the group’s website.
The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, calls the group a “clandestine, cadre-operated, radical Islamist political organization” aimed at replacing the existing political regimes with a theocratic Muslim state. It claims the group actively works in 40 countries.
Russia’s Supreme Court banned the group as a “terrorist” organization in 2003.
adds a graph explaining why the group was banned in Russia
