Russians fighting alongside IS are criminals – Kremlin

Russian nationals fighting alongside the Islamic State terrorist group are criminals who are being destroyed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

“Obviously those who joined terrorists and are linked to terrorist activity, whose who oppose the Syrian armed forces with weapons, and especially those who use weapons against Russian servicemen who take part in our operation are criminals, they are being destroyed.

“Our defence ministry informs us of this every day,” Peskov told reporters.

Peskov, however said that the Kremlin tends to doubt the credibility of data on Russians fighting for terrorists in Syria, provided by the Soufan Group strategic security intelligence services company.

“We do not assess the results of the report in any way. First, we do not quite understand to what extent we can trust the cited data, what it is based on.

“what information sources that organization has, we do not have information on that account. We tend to doubt the credibility of that information,” Peskov told reporters when asked to comment on Soufan Group’s report.

The report published Wednesday claimed Russian nationals in the ranks of the Islamic State terrorist group fighting in Syria and Iraq were represented more than nationals of other countries.

Peskov also said the return of those who fought for IS to Russia was dangerous, adding that this issue was being addressed by Russian security services.