#kistine

  • Russian Official : ’Chechen’ IS Warlords Are U.S.-Trained Georgians
    http://www.rferl.org/content/is-chechen-warlords-us-trained-georgians/26797888.html

    Ilya Rogachev, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats, has said that Chechen militants fighting with the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria are not Russian citizens but Kists from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge. 

    In an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station on January 16, parts of which were transcribed by other Russian media outlets, Rogachev blamed Georgia for the phenomenon of Chechen militants in Syria.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry official said that Georgian Kists — ethnic Chechens from the Pankisi Gorge — were “among the most prominent warlords who have already proved themselves in IS.

    Rogachev did not name these warlords but said they were “trained in Georgia, probably by Georgian specialists, who in turn were taught by the Americans.

    These comments — perhaps surprisingly — echo reports in Western news outlets, which have placed Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge under an intense media spotlight, mostly because of the sudden rise to notice of IS’s military emir in Syria, Umar al-Shishani, who is from the Pankisi Gorge. While Umar al-Shishani was a conscript in the Georgian Army, some news reports have emphasized that he was possibly trained by officers who may have been trained by Americans.
    (…)
    Rogachev also warned that Islamic State (IS) militants were “spreading out throughout the world and pose a serious threat.” The Foreign Ministry official said that the rapid influx of militants to Syria and Iraq had not been curbed.

    In an odd twist, Rogachev hinted that the U.S.-led air strikes against IS had had an effect. While he did not mention the air strikes conducted by the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq — which, after all, Moscow opposes — Rogachev did say that IS was taking losses in Syria and Iraq.

    Now we can say there is some sort of balance. The rapid expansion of IS has stopped: IS militants are incurring significant losses and many of them have returned to their home countries, having lost faith in an ultimate victory,” Rogachev said.

    Rogachev also warned that IS militants who returned to their home countries from Syria and Iraq “represent a very serious threat.

    Voir l’entrée #Kistine sur WP[fr]
    http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kistine