Alleged photo of the captured Russian nationals
The ISIS-linked news agency Amaq has released a video showing “two Russians” that the terrorist group’s members have allegedly captured during the recent clashes near the village of al-Shulah located at the Palmyra-Deir Ezzor highway in central Syria.
In late September ISIS claimed that it has captured “two Russian soldiers” in the area. The Russian Defense Ministry deined these claims.
The people showed by ISIS do not look like Russian military service members. For example, Russian soldiers don’t have beards.
According to the ISIS video, their names are Roman Zabolotniy (year of birth – 1979) and Grigory Surkanov (year of birth – 1978). So, the filmed men are much older than common service members of the Russian military involved in the operation in Syria.
These people could be private military contractors or members of some pro-government faction operating in Syria. Most likely they are civil employees for the Assad government. So, they are not combatants.
SF does not release the ISIS video. However, it could be easily found online.
