MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A large number of Russian mercenaries fighting alongside Islamic State (ISIL) forces may return with terrorist skills, the Russian Security Council's press service said Wednesday.
"It is no secret that a large number of Russian mercenaries are fighting abroad today… Upon returning [to Russia], they may bring back to our land the skills of sophisticated terror, including inherent [skills] of the group that calls itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, but has nothing to do with Islam," the press service said.
Up to 1,700 Russians are estimated to be fighting under ISIL banners in Iraq, according to Russia's Federal Security Service chief Alexander Bortnikov. Speaking at an anti-extremism conference in Washington last month, he said that the number of Russians making up ISIL ranks had almost doubled over the past year.
The ISIL is a Sunni jihadist group in control of large swathes of land across Iraq and Syria including major cities, such as Raqqa and Mosul.
According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, the group has attracted at least 20,000 foreign fighters to join the jihadist cause.
