ISIS Video Threatens President Putin’s Life and Calls for Jihad in All of Russia

PRESS RELEASE

ISIS Video Threatens President Putin’s Life and Calls for Jihad in All of Russia

Aug. 1, 2016 (EIRNS)—A nine-minute YouTube video reportedly issued by ISIS yesterday, threatened the life of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and called for followers to wage jihad in Russia. The video went viral shortly after the shooting down of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter returning from a humanitarian mission delivering food and medicine to residents of Aleppo, Syria. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, told reporters that the helicopter was downed over ground under the control of the Jabhat al-Nusra group and allied members of the "moderate opposition," Russia’s Defense Ministry reported today.

According to Sputnik, Reuters and multiple other media sources, the video showed a masked man driving a car in the desert, yelling, "Listen Putin, we will come to Russia and will kill you at your homes... O Brothers, carry out jihad, and kill and fight them." The video shows footage of armed men attacking armored vehicles and tents, and a subtitle reading "Breaking into a barracks of the rejectionist military on the international road south [of] Akashat." It was posted to the Telegram account which ISIS has previously used to transmit threats.

RT reminds readers of the speech by President Putin last October, in which he reported that an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 fighters from Russia and other CIS member states were fighting for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and warned of the danger of these radicalized jihadis returning to Russia.

"We certainly cannot allow them to use the experience they are getting in Syria on home soil," Putin stated, and called for the creation of a broad international coalition to combat the spread of terrorism.