The Islamic State claimed Monday to have killed an Russian intelligence officer captured in Syria last year after he infiltrated the terror group at Moscow’s behest.
Video footage shared Monday by al-Furat, the Islamic State’s propaganda wing, shows the purported execution of an individual identified as Evgeny Petrenko, an alleged colonel in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), according to multiple reports.
“I was supposed to infiltrate the special services of the caliphate and the leadership of the caliphate,” the man says in the video while dressed all in black. “But during this I was discovered and arrested by the security services of the caliphate.”
“This idiot believed the promises of his state not to abandon him if he was captured,” a narrator says prior to the execution, Reuters reported.
The video was shared online Monday as Russia celebrated the anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany and garnered mixed reactions from Moscow upon its release: Senator Viktor Ozerov, the head of the defense committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said “there will be hell to pay” if the Islamic State executed a Russian as claimed. Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, rejected the video’s authenticity in a statement Tuesday dismissing the footage as a “hoax” propagated by “fake news.”
“All servicemen of the Russian grouping of forces in Syria are safe and sound and are accomplishing missions to fight international terrorism as part of their formations. The actions by some media outlets, which regularly circulate the fake news of international terrorist groupings, cause condemnation,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“Even if it is a fake, it shouldn’t be left without attention,” Mr. Ozerov told Russian media.
The FSB, which operates separately from the Russian military, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
The individual identified as Petrenko first appeared in an earlier propaganda video released by the Islamic State in September pleading then to Russian President Vladimir Putin for assistance.
Separate from a multilateral military campaign spearheaded by the Pentagon., Mr. Putin has authorized military action of its own targeting the Islamic State in Syria, a Russian ally, at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Thirty Russian servicemembers have died in that operation, according to official government figures cited by The Moscow Times.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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