The European Union (EU) has added two Russian citizens to its sanctions list of people with links to the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) terrorist organizations.
The EU said in its Official Journal on August 9 that Aslan Byutukayev, 41, from Russia's North Caucasus region and Ayrat Vakhitov, 39, from Russia's Tatarstan region had been added to the list a day earlier and the "regulation should enter into force immediately."
The two were added by Washington in July to the list of persons who had joined IS and "threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States."
Russian officials have said that some 2,500 citizens of Russia and other former Soviet republics have joined Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq in recent years.