Baghdad, Moscow discuss 147 ISIS detainees claiming Russian citizenship

BAGHDAD — Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim Al-Araji met Wednesday in Moscow with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu to discuss security cooperation and intelligence coordination, according to a statement from Iraq’s National Security Advisory.

The two sides discussed “strengthening cooperation” between Baghdad and Moscow in counterterrorism efforts and expanding the exchange of information and expertise, the statement said.

According to the statement, the meeting also addressed the status of Islamic State members transferred from Syria to Iraq, including 147 detainees who claim Russian citizenship.

Earlier this year Iraq received 5,704 Islamic State suspects from prisons in northeast Syria in coordination with coalition forces. As of April 2, the Ministry of Justice said the detainees were being held at Karkh Central Prison under layered security, with 1,000 of them questioned and no court rulings issued. The detainees represent more than 60 nationalities.

Islamic State declared its self-styled caliphate in 2014, controlling large parts of Iraq and Syria before losing its territory by 2019. The group continues to operate through sleeper cells.

Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Anil Bora Inan said earlier this week that Turkey is close to completing the repatriation of its citizens accused of Islamic State membership from Iraqi prisons, and called on other countries to retrieve their own nationals facing terrorism charges in Iraq.

In April, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said that authorities have handed over two suspects of Finnish and American nationalities to their home countries after determining they were not affiliated with the Islamic State group.