MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - Russia's Southern District Military Court has designated the mercenary Georgian Legion, which has been fighting alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as a terrorist organization and banned it in Russia, the Russian Federal Security Service's (FSB) press center said on Friday.
"On the basis of the evidence gathered by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Southern District Military Court declared the Georgian National Legion paramilitary unit a terrorist organization," banning its activities in Russia, the press center said.
According to FSB data, the organization was set up in 2014 "under the auspices of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Defense Ministry."
"Today, the Georgian National Legion is the largest armed unit manned along ethnic lines. The legion's members have been fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and have been involved in organizing acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks in Russian territory, torturing Russian Armed Forces personnel and killing civilians," it said.
These facts make it possible to qualify the actions of the legion's members and their accomplices both as mercenarism and as terrorist activities, it said.
"The Russian FSB is continuing measures to detect and suppress threats to the state's security coming from members of the Georgian National Legion terrorist organization," the FSB said.
As prescribed by law, the Georgian Legion has been added to the federal list of organizations, including foreign and international ones, designated as terrorist in accordance with Russian legislation.