Kremlin casts doubt on Isil video of captive Russian troops

TERRORISTS have published a video they claim shows two Russian soldiers captured in Syria as the Kremlin continues to question their nationality.

One of the men identifies himself as Roman Zabolotny, born in 1979 in Russia’s southern Rostov region. He refers to the man beside him, who sits silently with one of his eyes swollen shut, as Grigory Tsurkanu, born in 1978 in the Domodedov district outside Moscow.

According to Islamic State in the Levant (Isil), they were captured near Deir-ezzor, where Syrian and Russian forces have been trying to drive out the terrorist group.

The Don Cossack Host organisation said Mr Zabolotny was one of its cossacks but didn’t know how he came to be in Syria. The Domodedovo branch of Battle Brotherhood, a veterans organisation that has taken part in prokremlin demonstrations, confirmed Mr Tsurkanu was a member.

Following reports last week that two Russian soldiers had been captured in Syria, the Russian defence ministry denied that any of its service personnel had been taken prisoner. Mercenary groups have also reportedly been involved in the Syrian conflict.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said the Kremlin was checking the men’s identities and that the Don Cossacks’ statement was not official. “Of course Moscow is concerned about the fate of these citizens if they are citizens of the Russian Federation,” he said.

Russia’s casualties are rising and Lt- Gen Valery Asapov, the commander of military observers, was killed in a mortar strike last month.

The defence ministry yesterday posted a video of an air strike it said had killed 12 field commanders of Hayat Tahrir al-sham, an Islamist group previously linked to al-qaeda.