Police in St. Petersburg have detained two Tajiks on suspicion of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria.
The Investigative Committee's directorate in St. Petersburg said on May 20 that the suspects had been detained after police found religious literature and other materials that might carry extremist content.
The two suspects are expected to be charged with "support of terrorism," the directorate said.
In recent months, several men and women have either been detained or jailed in Russia and former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia for recruiting militants for Islamic groups in the Middle East.
Russian officials have said at least 5,000 Russians and citizens from other former Soviet republics have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the IS group in Syria and Iraq.
