Experts: power agents should be ready for increased terror threat from IS

The "Islamic State" (IS), banned and found a terrorist organization, has declared jihad on Russia. Experts believe that the activities of the IS in the Caucasus will continue; however, the number of terror acts will not increase in the near future.

Russian power agents should be ready for the worst, says Professor Mikhail Roschin, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Central Asian, Caucasian and Volga-Urals Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

"The FSB will say more precisely, whether there is a potential threat, since power agents are active in Dagestan, where they recently held a number of CTOs (counterterrorist operations)," he said.

He supposed that the main problem the IS may face in Russia is the lack of communication links, which may complicate coordination of its forces.

Akhmet Yarlykapov, a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the RAS, believes that the declaration of jihad should be taken "very seriously," because the IS in Northern Caucasus has almost completely replaced the "Imarat Kavkaz" (recognized to be a terrorist organization in Russia, – note of the "Caucasian Knot").

However, the IS will not be able to carry out major operations and terror acts, as the set up of its own network, especially a terrorist one, organization of logistics and supplies of weapons and finances take "a lot of time and money," he added.

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