Alexander Bastrykin

Two senior Russian officials are vying to lead efforts to combat religious extremism in Russia as ethnic and religious tensions continue to escalate.

More than 30,000 foreigners who recently acquired Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service have been identified and added to mobilization lists, according to Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of the Investigative Committee, as reported by Russian news agency Interfax on Thursday.

Russia has sent around 10,000 naturalised citizens to fight in Ukraine, a top official said Thursday, adding that some had chosen to leave the country rather than face being enlisted.

Moscow has been accused of pressuring Central Asian migrants to join its armed forces amid an intense recruitment drive to boost troop numbers for its military offensive on Ukraine.

In the aftermath of the harrowing attack on Moscow's iconic concert hall "Crocus City Hall," the accused perpetrators have come forth with full testimonies detailing the orchestration of the assault and those who aided in its planning.

Moscow declared the attackers of the Monument to the Soviet Army a day ago as criminals and threatened to hold them accountable.

The head of the Investigative Committee (IC) of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered the initiation of a criminal case for the desecration of the Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, reported the Russian state agency TASS, quoted by BTA.

The State Agency "National Security" (SANS) has started an investigation on the basis of the spread information that the truck that caused an explosion on the Crimean bridge on October 8 passed through the territory of Bulgaria.

The investigation began immediately after the disclosure of the information, by order of Acting Prime Minister Galab Donev.

The caretaker government has requested information from the services on the subject of the truck that blew up on the Crimean bridge, cabinet spokesman Anton Kutev explained to BTA.

"Inspections are carried out by both the National Security State Agency (SANS) and the Ministry of the Interior. We have to see what the results will be," Kutev pointed out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that long-range missiles struck Ukrainian energy, military and communications infrastructure in an attack this morning.

The leader of GERB and former Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov, announced that the words "Bulgarian trail" have a bad aftertaste.

Deputy Head of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Moscow must respond to the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.
As he said, Russia will respond by eliminating the terrorists responsible for the attack.