Russian citizen Suleimanov detained in Turkey following bomb attack denies link to ISIL
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian citizen Aidar Suleimanov, who has been charged by the Russian Interior Ministry department for Tatarstan in absentia with links to ISIL, or Islamic State (IS), a terrorist organization banned in Russia, says he has nothing to do with the group.
"I am an opponent of IS, which can be seen from my correspondence via social networks. I am against Russia's aggression against Syrian civilians, as well as against killings of any civilians," Suleimanov said in an interview with Kommersant posted on the publication's website on Friday.
Earlier this week, Suleimanov and two other Russian citizens had been detained in Turkey following a bomb attack that killed ten people.
Suleimanov said he had been transferred from a detention facility to a deportation center.
"This is essentially like an administrative detention. It expires at 7:00 p.m. local time today, after which I will be under a prosecutor's supervision and will have to get registered with a [police] station four times a week. And I am also barred from leaving the country. So I am in fact under travel restrictions but not under arrest," he said.
Asked what prompted him to leave Russia, Suleimanov said he had done this for economic reasons.
"I didn't have any problems before my departure. I simply didn't see any prospects there. Therefore I sold all my property, discontinued my family's residence registration and left. Already in Turkey, I waited until the buyers transferred the money and bought a place to live in Antalya. And so I live here," he said.
Grigory Tumanov, a journalist from Kommersant, had said earlier via Twitter that Turkish police had freed Suleimanov without pressing any charges.
The Russian embassy to Turkey has so far been unable to obtain confirmation of this report.
"I cannot either confirm or deny this information," Igor Mityakov, the Russian embassy's press attache, said in a telephone interview with Interfax on Friday.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova had said on Thursday that Aidar Suleimanov, who was accused by the Russian Interior Ministry's department for Tatarstan in absentia of connections with ISIL and who was declared wanted through Interpol channels on November 25, was among the Russian citizens detained in Turkey.
She pointed out that all countries collaborating through Interpol were aware of Suleimanov's contacts with ISIL.
A source with a Russian governmental agency had also said on Thursday that Suleimanov was in charge of smuggling people from Russia over to ISIL.
"According to confirmed data, he was involved with terrorist organizations that form part of ISIL, organizing and supervising a steady route for smuggling people from Russia over to ISIL. It was he who organized travel to Middle Eastern countries for Ruslan Khaibullov and Kamaludin Babayev, the Russian citizens who were arrested alongside him," the source said on Thursday.
He confirmed the Russian Foreign Ministry's information regarding Suleimanov, saying that he "left Russia on July 26, 2013, through the Novaya Guta checkpoint."
The latest reports indicated that Suleimanov was held at a deportation center in Turkey in 2014-2015, the source said.