MOSCOW, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed concerns on Friday about the threat of Islamic State (IS) terrorists moving to Russia and neighboring countries from northern Syria, where Turkey is carrying out a military operation against the Kurds.
"According to the General Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, there are hundreds and even thousands of militants there," Putin said at a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat.
In a speech at the summit published on the Kremlin website, the president said the IS terrorists were kept in detention camps guarded by Kurdish military units, which may abandon the camps with the advance of the Turkish army.
The detainees may escape and move deep into Syria or to the CIS countries via Iraq, Turkey and other countries of the region, Putin said.
"I'm not sure if the Turkish army can -- and how quickly -- take control of it," he said.
He urged the CIS leaders to mobilize the special services to prevent the emerging new threat.
Putin said the CIS leaders would approve at the summit a program to fight against terrorism over the next three years, considering it a priority of interaction among the CIS states.
Founded in 1991 as a regional organization of former Soviet republics, the CIS comprises Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Turkey started a military operation in northern Syria on Wednesday against the Kurdish forces that Ankara considers terrorists and separatists.
