Moscow Isis-K raiders all from Tajikistan…9 arrested there
27 April, 2024
Dzhumokhon Kurbonov, a citizen of Tajikistan, is accused of providing the attackers with means of communication and financing.
[April 1 2024 ]
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said that on Sunday it detained four suspected members of the cell in the Russian province of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.
The agency alleged that the suspects detained in Dagestan were involved in channeling funds and providing weapons to the gunmen who attacked the concert hall on Moscow’s western edge on March 22, killing 144 people in the deadliest attack on Russian soil in two decades.
[March 30 2024 ]
The State Department later on March 29 emphasized that Washington had “shared clear and timely information with Russian authorities to help prevent the attack and save innocent lives.” Spokesman Matthew Miller said Russia’s attempts to shift the blame to others are “absurd.”
[12:07 edt ]
Nine people were arrested Friday by Tajikistan’s state security service in connection to the terror attack at a Moscow concert hall
[March 28 2024 …FSB in hall? ]
At the beginning of 2024, two Tajik suicide bombers killed almost 100 people in Iran when they blew themselves up at a memorial service in a cemetery.
[March 26 2024 [
The men, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan. [Guardian 24 Mar 2024 18.42 EDT. ] Tajikistan has the weakest economy anywhere in the former Soviet Union. Joblessness is rife. Remittances sent home by migrant laborers account for around four-fifths of the economy. Tajiks do not need visas to enter Russia. In 2023, around 1.3 million Tajiks lived in Russia.
Unnamed officials and Telegram channels known for links to security services suggested that several of the attackers may have been Tajik, or Russian citizens with Tajik background. The reports prompted pushback from Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry, which denied the reports and published detailed information on several of the men whose names were circulating. Russia had in decades past dealt with religiously inspired militancy, including in Chechnya and Dagestan.
[March 22 2024 Russia raids islamists, Moscow Picnik rock concert targeted, ISIS-K claims ]
Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
[March 22 2024 ]
The ISIS terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Russia.
Gunmen in combat fatigues opened fire and detonated explosives in a big concert hall in the outskirts of Moscow which has a maximum capacity of more than 9,000 people.. Russian authorities had recently carried out a series of raids against armed Islamist militants in the region of Ingushetia, Earlier this month, western countries led by the United States had issued terror warnings and told their citizens not to join public gatherings in Russia. On 8 March, the embassy wrote it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.” Picnic (Russian: Пикник) is a Russian rock band known for its unique style which is a mixture of art rock, progressive rock and original Russian rock
Kirby said the U.S. did not have prior knowledge and that he believes the previous warning from the embassy was not related to Friday’s attack. Putin addressed the warnings a couple weeks later, criticizing the warning three days ago as “provocative
[September 20 2023 Armenia: no change to Eagle Partner 2023 ]
There had been no change to the 10-day Eagle Partner 2023 exercise involving 85 US soldiers and 175 Armenians, despite Azerbaijan’s launch of what it called an “antiterrorist” operation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region
[September 19 2023 Azerbaijan: drive out Armenian military formations ]
BAKU, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan launched military action in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a step that could presage a new war in the volatile area but which Baku said was necessary to restore constitutional order and drive out Armenian military formations.
Karabakh is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory but part of it is run by breakaway ethnic Armenian authorities who say the area is their ancestral homeland. It has been at the centre of two wars – the latest in 2020
[September 11 2023 Kansas National Guard in Armenia for ‘Eagle Partner’, – “unfriendly step” – Russia ]
The 10-day “Eagle Partner” exercise has begun. It involves 85 U.S. and 175 Armenian soldiers and is designed to prepare the Armenians to take part in international peacekeeping missions. It is taking place at two training grounds near the capital Yerevan.
[September 8 2023 ]
He said Moscow, distracted by its war with Ukraine, had been unable to deliver and was winding down its role in the South Caucasus.
Moscow responded by insisting that it intended to remain the principal guarantor of security in the Caucasus, which also includes Azerbaijan and Georgia. Russia on Friday summoned the Armenian ambassador for a “harsh” protest about a list of what it termed “unfriendly steps”, decisions to sign up to the International Criminal Court and to host a military exercise with the United States, as well as a visit to Ukraine by the Armenian prime minister’s wife to deliver humanitarian aid.
[September 6 2023 ]
A US military spokesperson said 85 American soldiers and 175 Armenians would take part in September 11-20 Eagle Partner 2023 drills with Armenia. He said the Americans – including members of the Kansas National Guard which has a 20-year-old training partnership with Armenia – would be armed with rifles and would not be using heavy weaponry.
Russia has a military base in Armenia and sees itself as the pre-eminent power in the South Caucasus region, which until 1991 was part of the Soviet Union. It maintains a peacekeeping force in the region to uphold an agreement that ended a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, the second they have fought since the Soviet collapse.
Hue and Cri 