MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on Wednesday reported the detention of five people in Moscow and the Kirov and Penza regions suspected of helping the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham international terrorist organization, banned in Russia.
"As a result of coordinated search operations, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation detained five supporters of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham international terrorist organization, which acts in the territory of Syria, in the city of Moscow and in the Kirov and Penza regions," the FSB said.
"The detained persons, sharing the ideology of the international terrorist organization and following the instructions received from the terrorist organization's functionaries, regularly transferred money to the accounts of militants who were in the terrorist-controlled Idlib de-escalation area in the Syrian Arab Republic," it said.
"These funds were used to buy weapons, vehicles and ammunition," the FSB said.
Communication devices, payment instruments and "other documents confirming their unlawful activities" were seized during the searches carried out at the suspects' places of residence, it said.
Investigative agencies have opened criminal cases on charges of facilitation of terrorist activity.