Chief of the General Administration for Combating Extremism of the Russian Interior Ministry Oleg Ilyinykh said on Friday that the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) was shifting its focus to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia following the militants' defeat in Iraq and Syria
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2019) Chief of the General Administration for Combating Extremism of the Russian Interior Ministry Oleg Ilyinykh said on Friday that the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) was shifting its focus to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia following the militants' defeat in Iraq and Syria.
Earlier in the day, Ilyinykh addressed the international practical and research conference "Priority tasks of international cooperation in countering extremism and terrorism" at the Moscow University of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"The strategic defeat of the caliphate in Syria and Iraq entails a shift in the IS's interests toward the territories of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia," Ilyinykh said.
According to Ilyinykh, IS leaders are planning to establish a global terrorist network and sleeper cells that would demonstrate the group's ability to carry out attacks around the world.
Victory over the IS was declared in Syria and Iraq in late 2017, but certain areas in both countries are still being cleared of militants.
