Some 1,000 militants continue to operate in Russia’s North Caucasus Federal District, the Russian president’s envoy to the region told the Russia Today TV Channel on Friday.
“All the leaders have been identified, all the militants have been identified, and we are currently carrying out serious work in connection with them,” envoy Alexander Khloponin said.
Khloponin also said militants in the region received very little support from abroad.
“The ratio of foreign and, so to speak, domestic financing is 10 to 90 in Russia’s favor,” he said.
He added that militants in the region “don’t have to seek financial support from international terrorist organizations, like al-Qaeda, it’s enough for them just to extort money from businessmen, they get enough funds from this.”