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Moscow Man Detained Over Pro-Islamic State Website

Islamic State signs.

Moscow police apprehended a man suspected of having launched a pro-Islamic State website, the TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed source in law enforcement.

The suspect, arrested in central Moscow, stands accused of having created a website in the name of the Islamic State and having uploaded extremist videos that endorsed the organization's terrorist activities, TASS reported.

Interfax news agency later reported that the suspect hailed from Tajikistan. Media reports did not specify the date of his detention.

The Russian Supreme Court declared the Islamic State a terrorist organization in late December, effectively banning its activities in the country.

The head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, told journalists last week that some 1,700 Russian nationals were estimated to be fighting alongside Islamic State forces in Iraq.

The Islamic State has seized large portions of Iraq and Syria over the past year. The group has carried out mass killings of civilians, soldiers and prisoners of war, as well as the beheadings of several hostages, including American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers.

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