Russian Foreign Ministry says it didn't issue foreign travel passport to student who could have been recruited by Islamists
MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry did not issue a foreign travel passport to Russian student Varvara Karaulova, who is suspected of involvement with Islamists and who went missing on the territory of Turkey, the ministry said on Facebook.
"The media reports stating that Russian citizen Varvara Karaulova, who is wanted on the territory of Turkey, was issued a foreign travel passport by the Russian Foreign Ministry, are untrue. The document was issued by the Federal Migration service Department for Moscow in April 2015," the report says.
"The Foreign Ministry is actively working on determining Varvara Karaulova's whereabouts through various channels, including its representations in Turkey," the report says.
Alexander Karabanov, a lawyer for the Karaulov family, told Interfax on Tuesday that Karaulova, a second-year student of philosophy at Moscow State University, who was into radical Islam and who went missing five days ago, has been put on the international wanted persons list.
He said the girl went missing on May 27 after she went to the university, but did not show up there. There is information that she is now in Turkey. "there is precise evidence that she was recruited by radical Islamists," Karabanov said.
He did not rule out that the girl could have been issued forged documents in Turkey and could be forcibly held there.