Experts do not believe in effectiveness of US sanctions against IS in Northern Caucasus

The financial sanctions imposed against the suspected leaders of the Caucasian unit of the "Islamic State" (IS), which is recognized as a terrorist organization, will not affect the situation of the armed underground in Northern Caucasus. This opinion has been expressed by the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 29, the US Treasury and the US State Department announced the sanctions imposed against the North-Caucasian unit of the "Islamic State" ("Caucasus Province"). Apart from others, the sanctions list also includes Rustam Asilderov, the suspected leader of the IS unit in Northern Caucasus.

According to Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, it is too early to call Rustam Asilderov the leader of the IS unit in Northern Caucasus.

"They position him as the leader of the IS unit; however, he is not affiliated with anyone. Meanwhile, the adoption of such measures is a reaction to the current situation in Syria. We should be ready for some sort of reaction to the involvement of the Russian armed forces [in Syria]," Alexei Malashenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The expert believes that the US sanctions will not deplete the militants.

"All the assets are likely credited not to accounts of Osama bin Laden or al-Baghdadi. The assets may be credited to an account of any person, for example, Ivanov," Alexei Malashenko has stressed.

Orientalist Elena Suponina, Advisor to the Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, believes that by making such a statement, the United States has simply shown Russia the willingness for cooperation to combat terrorism.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.