The financial intelligence services of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have been intensively cooperating to prevent the financing of illegal armed groups, according to Vyachaslaw Reut, the head of the financial monitoring department of Belarus’ State Control Committee (KGK) (TASS, July 22). “Despite the existing political... MORE

Russia’s policy toward the Islamic State (IS) group in the Middle East is controversial. On the one hand, involvement in IS activities officially became a crime in Russia in February 2015 (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, February 27). On the other hand, Russia does not seem to have... MORE

Russia continues to surprise observers by its actions to counter the threat of the Islamic State (IS). Notably, Russian authorities recently updated the list of Islamic organizations that could harm the Russian Federation. The list is interesting because it includes organizations that disappeared more than... MORE

In May 2014, Nagieb Khaja, a Dutch filmmaker and journalist reporting on the ground in Syria for al-Jazeera, began to negotiate with Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) members about conducting an on-camera interview with a JN official. After months of negotiations, JN gave him permission to interview... MORE

Much has been written already about the stunning number of Belgian fighters in Syria and Iraq. With estimates ranging from 380 to nearly 500 individuals, Belgium has the highest per capita figure of all Western countries. The average Belgian fighter is a 25-year-old man of... MORE

Javed Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of Pakistan’s National Assembly (the lower house of parliament), has a history of assisting al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Paracha first entered the public eye for his consistent efforts to free al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistani government custody, going so far as... MORE

Mohamed Kuno, a former madrassa teacher in Garissa, Kenya’s main northeastern city, is the latest hardline militant leader to emerge from al-Shabaab. Until recently, Kuno was a typical Islamic preacher in Garissa mosques, where Muslims came to listen to his sermons. This religious figure has... MORE

On July 23, government forces declared a counterterrorist operation regime and launched a special operation in the center of Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. According to the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK), the authorities learned about the presence of six suspected members of a terrorist group in a... MORE

Chechnya, formally a Russian province, has found a place for itself in relations between Moscow and Riyadh. Indeed, in general, subnational units of the Russian Federation, in particular the Muslim regions, have become much more active in the Middle East. Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, has... MORE

During the past two months, Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented wave of attacks by Islamist militants, mostly launched by the Islamic State’s Egyptian branch—which calls itself “Sinai Province,” and which was formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis—against tourists in Luxor, the chief prosecutor, a naval... MORE