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Up to 3,000 Russians, Central Asians join IS

Moscow: Up to 3,000 citizens from the member-states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), have joined the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria.

The new recruits from CSTO countries of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will now undergo combat training for IS in Syria, Tass news agency quoted the CSTO Secretary General, Nikolay Bordyuzha as saying on Thursday.

The IS has recruited almost 400 people from the Kyrgyzstan and around 2,000 people of the Russian descent.

People from CSTO countries and European states are recruited by the IS through social networks, Bordyuzha said, stressing that the current international effort to fight against terrorism is not enough.

“There has been a lack of real cooperation in the sphere of anti-terrorism fight over the past several years.”