Up to 2,400 Russian citizens are currently fighting on the side of the Islamic State group (ISIL), the first deputy director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Sergei Smirnov, has said.
"The information available to us indicates that approximately 2,400 citizens of the Russian Federation are already taking part in the activities of this organization. It is quite a large number," he said after a session of the Council of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Sept.18.
As far as Central Asian countries are concerned, "some 3,000 citizens of these states are involved in the activities of this organization," Smirnov said.
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