Translated material
UN Security Council calls to stop paying ransoms to Islamic State
The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution proposed by Russia to ban dealings with the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda.
The resolution prohibits the purchase of oil from terrorists and the removal of ancient monuments from Syria. In addition, the Security Council called for refusing to pay ransoms for the hostages of the Islamic State.
Economic and diplomatic sanctions are provided for violation of the resolution. There is no mention of the possibility of using military force in the document.
The resolution calls for the cessation of air and road communication with areas of Syria and Iraq where extremist groups operate (English).
- The United Nations estimates that the Islamic State makes $1.65 million a day selling oil. The total amount of ransoms that were paid to the terrorists for the release of the hostages in 2014 amounted to about $45 million. Experts find it difficult to estimate the income from the export of ancient monuments from the territories controlled by the militants.
- According to media reports, at least two Russian citizens were taken hostage by the Islamic State. In October 2013, a recording of Sergei Gorbunov's appeal was published, in which he asked to be exchanged for a citizen of Saudi Arabia, Khaled Suleiman. According to The New York Times, in the spring of 2014, Gorbunov was killed by militants in Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry suggested that such a person never existed.
- In September 2013, another Russian was abducted in Syria - blogger Konstantin Zhuravlev, who was in the country without a visa.