Russian Intelligence: Terrorists Set for Deployment in Donbass Were Trained at US Al-Tanf Base

By Staff, Agencies 

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service warned that NATO countries are sending terrorist fighters to Ukraine.

"The intelligence services of NATO countries are transferring foreign terrorist fighters to Ukraine... the US and UK intelligence services in recent weeks have de facto turned Polish territory into a 'logistical hub' used to supply weapons and smuggle fighters, including from the Middle East, to Ukraine," the statement read.

According to the intelligence service, the terrorists, who are to be deployed to Donbass, were trained at the US-controlled Al-Tanf military base in Syria.

"At the end of 2021, the Americans released from prisons… several dozen Daesh terrorists, including citizens of Russia and CIS countries. These individuals were sent to the US-controlled Al-Tanf base, where they have undergone special training in subversive and terrorist warfare methods with a focus on the Donbass region," the statement added.

The intelligence service said that most of the Daesh [Arabic Acronym for the terrorist “ISIS/ISIL” group] trained in Syria for deployment in Donbass were destroyed during Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

However, the United States continues to form new terrorist units in the Middle East and Africa in order to send them to Ukraine via Poland, the agency pointed out.

"The CIA and the US Army Special Operations Command continue to form new ‘Daesh fighter echelons' in the Middle East and Africa. Their transfer to participate in subversive and terrorist activities in Ukraine is planned to be carried out through the territory of Poland."

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday that US military intelligence was stepping up a campaign to recruit mercenaries for Ukraine. Around 200 Croatian mercenaries arrived in Ukraine via Poland last week.

“US military intelligence has launched a large-scale propaganda campaign to recruit PMC [private military company] contractors to be sent to Ukraine. First of all, employees of the American PMCs Academi, Cubic, and Dyn Corporation are being recruited. [...] Only last week, about 200 mercenaries from Croatia arrived through Poland, who joined one of the nationalist battalions in the southeast of Ukraine,” he detailed.