Bashkortostan authorities have broken up two groups associated with the banned Islamic organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the local branch of the Investigative Committee said Thursday.
Investigators have opened a criminal case into the activities of the groups in the regional capital, Ufa, and the town of Dyurtyuli, 125 kilometers northwest of Ufa, on charges of extremism, committee spokesman Viktor Butyrkin said by telephone.
Butyrkin would not say whether any suspects had been detained.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir advocates the creation of an Islamic state but claims to reject violence. It has been outlawed in a number of countries, including Russia and Uzbekistan.
Members of the Bashkortostan groups recruited people to engage in illegal activities and urged them to use propaganda and violence to overthrow the government and establish one inspired by Islam, under which a number of Russian regions would become part of the so-called International Islamic Caliphate, the regional branch of the Federal Security Service told Interfax.
Law enforcement officers on Thursday searched the homes of the local Hizb-ut-Tahrir members, where they seized propaganda materials, including magazines, leaflets and films, Butyrkin said.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir activities in Bashkortostan were first registered in 2001, Interfax said. Regional courts handed down prison sentences to suspected members of the group in 2005 and 2008.
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