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[hobblygobbly]

For years Islamic militants in Russia were hunted by police. But then the authorities changed tack and allowed some to travel to the Middle East, sources say.

NOVOSASITLI, Russia – Four years ago, Saadu Sharapudinov was a wanted man in Russia. A member of an outlawed Islamist group, he was hiding in the forests of the North Caucasus, dodging patrols by paramilitary police and plotting a holy war against Moscow.

Then his fortunes took a dramatic turn. Sharapudinov, 38, told Reuters that in December 2012 Russian intelligence officers presented him with an unexpected offer. If he agreed to leave Russia, the authorities would not arrest him. In fact, they would facilitate his departure.

“I was in hiding, I was part of an illegal armed group, I was armed,” said Sharapudinov during an interview in a country outside Russia. Yet he says the authorities cut him a deal. “They said: ‘We want you to leave.’”

Sharapudinov agreed to go. A few months later, he was given a new passport in a new name, and a one-way plane ticket to Istanbul. Shortly after arriving in Turkey, he crossed into Syria and joined an Islamist group that would later pledge allegiance to radical Sunni group Islamic State.

Reuters has identified five other Russian radicals who, relatives and local officials say, also left Russia with direct or indirect help from the authorities and ended up in Syria. The departures followed a pattern, said Sharapudinov, relatives of the Islamists and former and acting officials: Moscow wanted to eradicate the risk of domestic terror attacks, so intelligence and police officials turned a blind eye to Islamic militants leaving the country. Some sources say officials even encouraged militants to leave.

The scheme continued until at least 2014, according to acting and former officials as well as relatives of those who left. The cases indicate the scheme ramped up ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics because the Russian authorities feared homegrown militants would try to attack the event.

The six Russian militants and radicals identified by Reuters all ended up in Syria, most of them fighting with jihadist groups that Russia now says are its mortal enemies. They were just a fraction of the radicals who left Russia during that period. By December 2015, some 2,900 Russians had left to fight in the Middle East, Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB, the Russian security service, said at a sitting of the National Anti-terrorist Committee late last year. According to official data, more than 90 percent of them left Russia after mid-2013.

That is just the few opening paragraphs, there is much more in the article: http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/russia-militants/

 

[HStallion]

Damn and I thought busing the homeless out of your city to clean up the streets and public image was bad but this takes it to a whole new plateau, forget levels. I mean I can feel for the Russian authorities wanting to get these types out of the country but giving them a pathway to go kill other people you don't care about. Damn that's ice cold.

 

[ClosingADoor]

These guys really don't give a shit who or where they fight do they. Give them a clean ticket out and go shoot some more people up with IS. Probably something Russia wanted, more trouble in the region for their enemies to clear up. Although you'd think if they really wanted to get rid of them and could find them, Russia wouldn't have such a problem with just shooting these people either.

 

[metareferential]

These guys really don't give a shit who or where they fight do they. Give them a clean ticket out and go shoot some more people up with IS. Probably something Russia wanted, more trouble in the region for their enemies to clear up. Although you'd think if they really wanted to get rid of them and could find them, Russia wouldn't have such a problem with just shooting these people either.

Yep. It it was just a matter of national security they would have killed them easily.