UNITED NATIONS -- More than 2,000 citizens of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries are wanted on suspicion of fighting as insurgents abroad, Andrei Novikov, director of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Centre, told two UN Security Council committees Friday (June 23), according to CA-News.org and other media outlets.
The CIS is working constantly to build a "photo library of these individuals", he said, warning that hardened militants fighting abroad are heading home.
Without giving numbers per country, he cited Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as some of the CIS countries whose citizens have joined insurgencies in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIS also is monitoring the financial activities of more than 650 CIS nationals linked to terrorist crimes, he said.
