France has handed Russia a list of nearly four dozen Russians who are to be deported from the country for their radical Islamist views, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has said.
“We have compiled a list of 39 Russian nationals whom we are monitoring particularly closely because of suspicions of radicalization. Last week we presented it to the Russian authorities and we will start the relevant negotiations and procedures”, Darmanin said.
According to him, the French authorities seek to secure the country from “possible manifestations of radical Islam, including terrorist acts”. The head of the French Interior Ministry did not disclose the data of the Russians facing deportation and specified that the expulsion will take place only after the Russian consulate approves the submitted list. In the meantime, the Russians are under “the strictest control”.
Earlier, Darmanin reported that about 60 Russians are on the French Interior Ministry’s S list of people who pose a security threat. “Among them, obviously, there are also natives of Chechnya,” – noted the French Minister. At the same time, about 40 people from the list are either in prison or their freedom is restricted under judicial measures.
The Russian Embassy in France said it had not yet seen the list and had no contacts with the French Interior Ministry on the issue. “This topic is so far only being mused about by the French in their information space. As for the embassy, the French Interior Ministry has not officially contacted us”, the diplomatic mission said.
Prior to that, France introduced the maximum level of terrorist threat in connection with the attack on a school in the city of Arras. The terrorist attack was committed by 20-year-old Chechen-born Mohammed Mogushkov, a native of Russia. As a result, 57-year-old French teacher Dominique Bernard was killed and three other people were injured. The attacker was detained by the police.
At the same time, the attacker’s brother Movsar Mogushkov, who was previously tried for publishing materials of the terrorist organization Islamic State in social networks, was detained near another school. The family of the detainees was trying to obtain political asylum in France.
