MOSCOW, January 10 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian citizen from the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya is suspected of joining rebels fighting the government in Syria, local prosecutors said Thursday.
Officials said that Shakhid Temirbulatov joined a militant group in Syria in July and has been fighting there since then against the regime of President Bashar Assad.
The North Caucasus is the focus of an Islamist insurgency, although armed militants have been largely suppressed in Chechnya itself.
Jihadists from Russia are known to be fighting in Syria, although their exact number has not been established. At least one prominent Islamist rebel group, Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, is led by an ethnic Chechen and runs a Russian-language website.
A top migration official in Chechnya had to resign in November after reports disclosed that his daughter was fighting alongside rebel forces in Syria’s civil war.
At least two other Russians were detained in the North Caucasus last year over their alleged role in Syria’s militant movement.
