MOSCOW, September 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday criticized the UN Security Council’s recent refusal to extend the Al-Qaida Sanctions List on Moscow's request.
In March, Russia submitted a request asking the UN Security Council to add two names, Finish activist Mikael Storsjö and Soviet-born Sweden resident Isa Dzhabrailov, as wells as Turkish organization Imkander to the Al-Qaida Sanctions List, which contains the names of individuals and entities associated with the terrorist group from around the world.
According to remarks by the ministry on Thursday, the petition was rejected by Britain, France and Luxembourg on September 6.
“Clearly, this is further evidence of a disappointing policy of double standards and manipulation in what concerns the effectiveness of applied anti-terror UN Security Council's sanctions,” the ministry said.
The statement said in its request that Russia had provided sufficient evidence linking the two individuals and the Turkish NGO to the Caucasus Emirate, a self-proclaimed Islamic state entity of the North Caucasus and a terrorist group headed by rebel leader Doku Umarov.
Russian officials insisted that both Imkander and the two men were linked to the Caucasus Emirate, which is currently on the Al-Qaida Sanctions List, and its mouthpiece website the Kavkaz Center.
Russian authorities have been seeking for several years without success to shut down the foreign-based Kavkaz Center website, which is listed as extremist in the country.
According to earlier Finnish media reports, the Kavkaz Center servers are now based in Storsjö’s office in Finland, while Dzhabrailov is reportedly the site’s administrator in Sweden.
