The Return of the ISIL’s Terrorists as a Threat to Social and Political Stability in Russia

Abstract

The Global terrorism is evolving, adapting to the new realities and still posing a serious threat to all humanity and the security of all countries of the world. Currently, the main terrorist threat comes from ISIL (Da’esh), which despite the complete defeat of the «caliphate» in Syria and Iraq, has a wide network of terrorist branches in the most problematic and conflict areas on the territory stretching from the Western part of the Sahel to the Philippines. The problem of foreign terrorist fighters returning and moving from the war zone to the countries of origin is the most urgent issue on the present agenda. At the annual press conference held on December 19, 2019 the Russian President Vladimir Putin again emphasized the topical character of this problem. He highlighted in particular that the problem of returning terrorist fighters can be solved only by joint efforts, and for this “it is necessary to establish highly effective joint cooperation”. At least 16 countries of the world, including Russia, have already suffered from terrorist attacks carried out by ISIL fighters returning from battlefields. The article analyses in detail the problems that the flow of recent supporters of «caliphate» returning to Russia and other countries brings. The study also contains consolidated recommendations on addressing the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters affiliated with the «Islamic State».