Over the past year, international terrorist organizations led by ISIS have sustained considerable losses in manpower and equipment, the Federal Security Service chief, Alexander Bortnikov, said at a meeting with the heads of special services, security agencies and law enforcement agencies in Krasnodar.
According to him, it was possible thanks to effective concerted action by Syrian government troops and Russia’s Aerospace Forces and the operations conducted by the coalition forces in Iraq.
Bortnikov said that the leaders of terrorist organizations have lost control over vast territories, many strongholds and a number of oil-producing regions, which significantly curtailed their economic base that made it possible to finance both large militant units in that region and their supporters outside it.
According to the FSB director, "the awareness of the threat of complete destruction in the areas of former domination has forced the leaders of international terrorist organizations to change the strategy and tactics of further actions."
He noted that "militants are intentionally moving beyond the Middle East and settling in unstable regions in an effort to create new centers of tension and [spark] armed conflicts there." They are most actively repositioning to Afghanistan where ISIS already has positions and from where they can infiltrate into the Central Asia, Iran, China and India, he said.
"By using the Afghan lodgment, terrorists are attempting to conduct attacks against Russia as well," he added, stressing that new international terrorist strongholds are also being established in Yemen, Central Africa and Southeast Asia.
