How to stop spread of extremist propaganda

Recently special services prevented 13 citizens of Azerbaijan and Russia from joining the IS group, among them a student Varvara Karaulov from Moscow. The story became broadly discussed due to serious contacts of her parents who gave the alarm in the media and law-enforcement agencies. However, according to the President of the International Association of Veterans of the Alfa Anti-terror Unit, Sergei Goncharov, the incident is not the only one, and the big number of such stories are unknown for the society.  

“Another 12 Russians crossed the border with her. Does anyone know their surnames, names and patronymics? Where are they from? Nobody knows anything. Every time we would send 12 Russians to IS the situation would be unpredictable,” Sergei Goncharov is sure.

According to him, it has been officially confirmed that today 1700 of our compatriots, citizens of Russia, are fighting for IS. “But we also have unofficial information. I don’t want to be without any proof and do not want to provoke anybody, but the number is much more. I say, "You know, they are mostly from the Caucasus republics, or those who profess Islam." I do not deny it. But we are very concerned that Russian citizens who stick to Christianity and then convert to Islam go to fight for IS. This is a problem. Katya Karaulova decided to ‘‘raise a wave’’ because of it. We want to know why this is happening. Why a girl who spoke four languages, was brought up in a good family, had a great father, but despite this decided to become almost a participant in a terrorist organization?” Goncharov asks. 

The President of the International Association of Veterans of the Alfa Anti-terror Unit thinks that consolidation of all efforts is needed to fight extremist propaganda.

First of all, special services have to work. “Such a girl or a boy from the MSU who spoke four languages and had good mental capabilities, any special service would hire them. But nobody noticed that, and she was on the other side of the barricade, unfortunately not on our side,” Sergei Goncharov is sure.

Secondly, religious activists should pay more attention to the problem. “We meet and talk to our Orthodox leaders. Recently an imam spoke, and said, "You know, we cannot do anything. The propaganda is stronger,’’ Goncharov complained.

“Does someone think that it is possible with the help of bombing to destroy IS? It will never happen. It is impossible to do anything with this organization without well-planned operations and without serious operative intelligence in this field. I say it again, however the Americans rest, without Russia they will not manage to defeat IS,” Sergei Goncharov concluded.