Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, approximately 200 people from Ingushetia have joined the Islamic State. Of these, about 50 have died and 10 have returned to Ingushetia, according to Ingushetia’s acting Minister of Internal Affairs, Yury Muravyev.

Muravyev also noted that since 2014, more than 100 criminal cases have been opened in Ingushetia against suspected IS members, including 63 last year. The acting minister also said that 104 suspected members of the Islamic State were included in the federal wanted list, while 77 are wanted internationally.

Data on people who have joined the Islamic State varies across law enforcement agencies, and Ingushetia is no different in this. Last year, the president of the republic, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, declared that 87 Ingushetians had joined the Islamic State. The president told journalists that the majority of them were killed in clashes, and that there were only 20 of them still in Syria.

At the end of 2015, the FSB reported on their progress in the fight against militants. The head of the FSB, Aleksandr Bortnikov, declared that in 2015, 20 of the 26 leaders of North Caucasian groups which swore allegiance to the Islamic State, were killed.

Ingushetia boasts an ‘adaptation commission’, whose aim is to bring former fighters disillusioned with radical Islamic ideas back into civilian life. Since the commission began its activities in 2011, more than 80 people have returned to their families. Many of them are now employed.

There is another commission working in Ingushetia which takes custody of children of militants. This is done in order to protect them from Islamic State propaganda.