VoA. Fatima Tlis. Furat Media, the Russian-language branch of Islamic State’s propaganda apparatus, has released three high-quality videos since the start of July. Furat’s Twitter and Telegram accounts feature daily updates and multimedia posts, suggesting the group’s Russian branch may not be affected as strongly by the decline in propaganda capabilities that IS has reportedly been experiencing.
Aimed at Russian-speaking Muslims, Furat Media serves as IS’s main recruitment tool in Russia, Transcaucasia, the North Caucasus, Central Asia and elsewhere.
Suicide bombers and snipers
In a two-part video, Convoy of the Martyrs, Furat Media features men it claims have died in suicide attacks in Iraq and Syria.
One of those featured is a young, bearded man wearing a khaki headscarf and holding an automatic rifle, who speaks in front of the camera in Russian with a heavy Chechen accent. The 10-minute video was released July 6 as Part Two of the Convoy of the Martyrs series.
In the video, which includes footage of IS attacks, the man, identified as Abu Abdul Aziz al-Shishani, praises the establishment of the “caliphate” and curses the United States, along with Muslims who decline or postpone joining IS. He also threatens Russia with a new wave of jihad in the North Caucasus. His last words, addressed to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, praise the IS leader and urge him to never give up, and to remain strong “like we remain strong in the besieged city of Mosul.” That last reference indicates the video could have been shot any time during the nine-month battle for Mosul.
The video ends with drone footage of a white vehicle driving on a street in a city and then blowing up, with white smoke rising from the site of the explosion. The caption reads: “Abu Abdul Aziz al-Shishani’s act of martyrdom.”
A week later, on July 14, Furat Media distributed another video, which included footage of IS training and attacks by IS snipers. An infographic in the video claims a single sniper killed 164 Kurdish fighters and wounded 90 in one month. One of the sniper instructors in the video, identified as Zayad al-Adhri, speaks Russian with a Dagestani accent.
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