The FSB is recruiting former Islamic State fighters and trying to integrate them as agents into Ukrainian battalions. This is discussed in the investigation of the Russian edition of Meduza.
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The Russian media describe the story of the ISIS terrorist Baurzhan Kultanov, who became “disillusioned” with the militants and fled to Turkey in 2014, where he asked for UN political asylum. When they found out about his terrorist past, Kultanov was detained. In 2015, he was returned from Istanbul to Russia and taken to Astrakhan. The FSB captain Alexander Gushchin, who was in charge of his criminal case, personally came to the airport to pick up the militant.
On the first day, Kultanov signed a confession, and one of the FSB investigators who worked on the case, Alexander Pisarev, treated the militant unexpectedly mildly. Kultanov was given four years and four months in prison. On the eve of the verdict, he was offered to cooperate with the FSB, promising “a term at the minimum wage” and the work of an agent.
Kultanov says that cooperation began in the colony. It was about perjury and TV appearances on the orders of the FSB. More often, the operatives showed Kultanov photographs of people he did not know, in which he had to “recognize” the militants.
In 2018, shortly before Kultanov was released from the colony, he was taken to the FSB building and given a cooperation agreement with the special service to sign.
His first business trip was to be in Ukraine. According to Kulatov, Russia is interested in having agents throughout Ukraine. In 2019, they began preparing Kultanov for infiltration into “Chechen groups and Tatar battalions wishing to fight for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
The FSB wanted to know “full information” about the supplies and personnel of the formations.
Over the cover story in the secret service “decided not to mess around.” The FSB advised him to tell the truth, that he was a terrorist, a Muslim who had been imprisoned in Russia. From conversations with the new curator, Kultanov learned that the special service is interested in Isa Akaev, the commander of the Islamic volunteer battalion “Crimea”, who has been fighting from Russia since 2014 and is assembled from Crimean Tatars, Chechens and Kabardians. The operatives hinted to Kultanov that they had many such “agents” who would be sent to Ukraine.
In 2021, the FSB’s plans for Kultanov changed and he was sent to Turkey “among Russian emigrants.” He was “trained” by a group that had specially flown in from Moscow.
On March 25, 2022, Kultanov flew to Turkey and since then has been in constant contact with Kultanov’s new handler from the FSB. He was instructed to find out “who is preparing against Russia” and to collect any information related to Ukraine.
Among other tasks, he was asked to find a buyer for “fake dollars, forged documents, passports, seals” and to learn “about the transfer of cryptocurrency.”
From communication with the FSB officers, Kultanov realized that contract killings were being carried out on the territory of foreign countries. Yes, one operative twice entrusted him with an order to kill people: “It was part of his business.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.