The Issues Islamic State’s Communications Strategy Pose in Russia and the UK: A Comparative Study of Problems Faced and Ways to Counter Them’

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (now referred to as IS) originated in 2013 in the territories in Syria and Iraq rent by a civil war and a struggle for power. Following their swift gains of territory in the Anbar area of Iraq and northern Syria, on the 29th June 2014 IS declared itself a world caliphate thereby announcing its unconditional clout throughout the world. While the UK had listed IS as a proscribed terrorist group in July 2014, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation acknowledged IS to be a terrorist entity in December 2014. This article is a comparative study of the threat IS’ communications strategy that promulgates a narrow and extreme Islamist ideology poses to Russia and the UK. By looking at the structure of IS’ communications strategy, this article analyses how it has influenced Russian and UK citizens who have been recruited as Jihadist foreign fighters to join IS in its self-proclaimed Caliphate in Syria. The analysis examines how IS has exploited Russian states with a predominantly Muslim population and Muslim communities in the UK in their drive to recruit not just fighters but citizens to emigrate to the Caliphate or to follow the group’s ideology in their home state. This leads to an analysis of the potential danger this poses to the security of Russia and the UK. If their counter measures are to be effective, Russia and the UK’s actions must be based on the rule of law. As a result the article examines the legal basis upon which their respective agencies operate assessing if their actions are compatible. The legal analysis focuses on two areas, the legal definition of terrorism and extremism