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Russian Court Sentences Man to 2 Years for Trying to Join Islamic State

A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa, Syria. Stringer / Reuters

A resident of Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for attempting to join the ranks of the Islamic State militant group, the regional Prosecutor's Office said Thursday in an online statement.

The man, 24, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in June at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport where he was planning to board a flight to the Turkish city of Istanbul. From Turkey, he wanted to cross the border into Syria and join the Islamic State, the statement said.

A Moscow district military court on Wednesday sentenced the man, who had previous military training, to two years and two months in prison for attempting to join an illegal organization, the statement said.

President Vladimir Putin told a summit of CIS countries in Kazakhstan late last week that between 5,000 and 7,000 CIS nationals were fighting with Islamic State, BBC Russia reported.

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