Moscow: US recruiting Takfiri terrorists to carry out attacks in Russia, former Soviet republics

US forces deployed in Syria are recruiting and training dozens of Takfiri terrorists to carry out attacks in Russia and several other ex-Soviet states, Russia's intelligence agency says.

US forces are currently training at least 60 terrorists affiliated with the Daesh and Al-Qaeda Takfiri terrorist groups at al-Tanf military base, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in statement on Monday.

It added that 60 such terrorists with combat experience in the Middle East were selected this year in January to be trained in the base, which is in an eponymous region in Syria's southern Homs province, near the borders with Iraq and Jordan, to allegedly conduct terror attacks in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including Russia.

"According to credible information received by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the US military is actively recruiting militants from" Takfiri terrorist groups "affiliated with the Daesh and al-Qaeda to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia and CIS countries," the statement said, as cited by TASS.

Russia's intelligence agency went on to say that these terrorists were undergoing a fast-track training course and were being taught how to make and use improvised explosive devices, as well as subversive methods, at the base, which is a desert garrison.

"Particular emphasis is paid to planning attacks on heavily guarded facilities, including foreign diplomatic missions," the SVR statement further said., stressing that Washington was planning to send the terrorists in small groups.

"In the near future, there are plans to deploy militants in small groups to the territory of Russia and the CIS countries. They will be tasked with plotting and carrying out terrorist attacks against diplomats, civil servants, law enforcement agents and servicemen," it added.

According to the SVR, terror attacks will be carried out in cooperation with clandestine cells of international terrorist factions, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jamaat Ansarullah extremist groups (both outlawed in Russia).

The statement added that special attention was paid to the involvement of natives of the Russian North Caucasus and Central Asia, stressing that such schemes demonstrate the complete loss of any moral principles in the US security services.

"Obsessed with the insane idea of ’exsanguinating’ Russia, Washington’s experts consider it acceptable to use terrorists directly for their own dirty purposes. Such actions put Washington on a par with major international terrorist groups," Russia's intelligence agency concluded.

Since the onset of war in Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has time and again said that the US has allegedly been training hundreds of Takfiri terrorists of Daesh and Al-Qaeda groups in US bases in Syria before deploying to the battlefield in Ukraine.

Last year, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov alleged that mercenaries and military specialists from 64 countries were involved in hostilities in Ukraine.

US training Daesh terrorists at Syria’s al-Tanf base to be sent to Ukraine: Russian intelligence service

US occupation forces are reportedly training some 500 Daesh terrorists in order to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorists attacks against units of Russian armed forces in Ukraine.

In May 2022, the SVR alleged that approximately 500 Daesh terrorists and militants from Caucasus and Central Asian countries were undergoing training at al-Tanf military base to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks against units of the Russian armed forces both inside Syria and in the Eastern European country.

A number of captured Daesh terrorists have already confessed to close cooperation with US military forces stationed at al-Tanf base in the central Syrian province of Homs on carrying out various acts of terror and sabotage.

On August 9, 2022, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council that the withdrawal of US forces from Syria would “do away” with the presence of terror groups.

"It is necessary to completely exterminate the remaining nests of international terrorism in Syria and to do away with the presence of Daesh and other groups in Syria," he said at the time.

"The withdrawal of US occupational forces from the Syrian territory would mean a swift and inevitable elimination of terrorist presence in this much-suffering country and of terrorist network in neighboring states," Nebenzya further noted.

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