Russian Woman Reported Executed by ISIS as Spy; Trucker Activist Searched; Navalny Fears New Prosecution

Ilya Azar, a correspondent for the independent news site Meduza.io based in Riga, was detained in Grozny, Caucasian Knot reported, citing Meduza’s site.

Azar went to a Chechen village to cover the torching of the homes of terrorists who attacked a checkpoint in Grozny on May 9th.

Anton Naumlyuk, a reporter from Radio Svoboda, the Russian-language service of RFE/RL, said he had spoken to Azar on the telephone, and he had told him that the silovoki (law-enforcers) had come to the village, although did not specify what kind of police they were. He said they wanted to establish his identity. He was detained at about 13:30 or 14:00.

At about 17:15, Azar called and said he had been released, and that he had been questioned as to whether he was a “terrorist” or a “sympathizer” and whether he was in ISIS.

Mukhammad Magomedov, the press secretary fo the Salafist Tangim Mosque on Gen. Omarova Street (formerly known as Vengerskhikh Boitsov Street) in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, has been detained by law-enforcement, Meduza.io reported, citing Caucasian Knot.

The Tangim mosque was one of the first not to support ISIS and has been in the media frequently, most recently due to the police break-in to the service.

Ekaterina Sokirianskaia of the International Crisis Group commented on Facebook that, “Step by step, the moderate Salafist field is being cleansed in Dagestan.”

For a background report on police crackdown on the Salafists in Dagestan, see Daniil Turovsky’s report in March.

LifeNews reported today, May 11,  that ISIS militants have executed a Russian woman who had earlier joined them for spying on behalf of Russian intelligence, citing the UK Mirror

Elvira Karayeva was said to work for intelligence for four years after penetrating ISIS, and was said to transmit information about ISIS fighters, their safe houses, and military bases.

The Mirror and other Russian media in turn cites Istok, a glossy Russian-language journal for ISIS fighters launched last year by the Al Hayat Media Centre as part of an ISIS Russian-language propaganda campaign.

Karayeva was said to have accomplished her mission by marrying an ISIS member who went by the name of Abu Muslim whom she was said to poison.

She was also said to be be responsible for the deaths of the following ISIS members: Adam Shakhbiyev, Artur Amriyev, Beslan Gochiyayev, Temurlan Tatarkulov, Valentin Dlugoborsky and Marina Urusuva. ISIS operatives were said to track her down by audio tapes of her conversations with her handlers at the FSB. 

Russian officials have not made a comment on the story.

Last year, when a Russian citizen said to have served as a spy for Moscow was executed, Ramzan Kadyrov, currently acting leader of Chechnya, said he was set up by other ISIS fighters and confirmed he was killed. Earlier, social media indicated that he had sought a job in Kadyrov’s police forces. 

ISIS has taken responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks in Russia, including the December shooting in Derbent.

The rate of exchange of the ruble to the dollar is 65.75 and to the euro 75.05. The price of Brent crude is $45.74.

The following headlines were taken from LifeNews, Chronicle of Current Events, Navalny, RBC, 7:40 na Perrone, Svoboda, Kommersant and Financial Times.

– Russian Woman Reported Executed by ISIS for Spying on Behalf of Russia

– FSB Searches Apartment in Vologda of Activist in Truckers’ Movement

– Navalny Fears Prosecutor Preparing Another Fabricated Criminal Case Against Him Based on Shareholder Activism

– Prosecutor Asks State Companies to Report Navalny’s ‘Abuses’

– Roma Refuse to Tear Down Their Homes Near Tula

– Fall of MTS Share Price Said To Be Related to Hacked Opposition Activists’ Boycott

– Viktor Ivanov ‘Apology’ on Facebook Reported Fake by Federal Narcotics Control Service

– Kommersant Reports Viktor Ivanov May Get Deputy Appointment But TV Rain Reports Andrei  Khrapov Made Deputy for Narcotics

– Yerofeyev’s Lawyer Reports Halt in Negotiations to Exchange Russian GRU Officers for Savchenko

– Russian Gang Suspected of London ICE Scam; 2 Arrests and £22m Frozen 

– Igor Borbot, Former Head of Far East Shipping Center Charged with Theft of $60 Million, Reportedly Arrested in US

– ‘Russian Vacuum Cleaner’ – On Career of Putin’s Dresden Friend, Sergei Chemezov [Russian]

– Businessman Maksim Freydzon Tells How He Gave Bribes to Putin at Mayor’s Office [Russian]

– Why EU Sanctions Are Overrated But Still Needed

– Does North Korea Have a Place in Russia’s “Turn to the East”?

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick