Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) stated that Nearly 1,700 Russian nationals are fighting alongside militants of the Islamic State group in Iraq, International Business Times reports.
"At the moment, some 100 countries are involved in the Iraqi conflict. The number of foreign participants that are fighting alongside Islamic State has grown from 13,000 to 20,000 - that is our estimate." Bortnikov mentioned.
Bortnikov, who was in Washington, D.C., to participate in a counterterrorism summit, spoke about possible cooperation between Moscow and Washington to fight and defeat ISIS. On the occasion, Bortnikov also stated that participants at the summit had reached an agreement not to politicize this cooperation between the US and Russia in efforts to fight against terrorism.