MOSCOW, December 9 (RIA Novosti) – A man who allegedly fought against government troops in Syria this year has been detained in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus, police said Monday.
Police in Russia’s predominantly Muslim republic of Dagestan said Monday that they had on the previous day detained a 22 or 23-year-old man who had left Russia for Syria in June 2013 and joined rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad.
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, has confessed, the police statement said.
A criminal case has been opened into the organization of and involvement in a militant group. It was not immediately clear whether the detained man was a native of Dagestan, which has been plagued by an Islamist insurgency for several years.
In July, law enforcement officers in Dagestan said they had detained another man in his forties for fighting in Syria’s civil war, in which rebel groups have been battling Assad’s regime for almost three years.
