Russia's media regulator has asked YouTube to block access to a video in which extremists from the Islamic State threaten to "liberate" the Caucasus from Russian rule.
Spokesman for Roskomnadzor, Vadim Ampelonsky, told the Interfax news agency on Thursday that the media watchdog had acted upon an order from the Prosecutor General's Office to restrict access to the footage from Russian computers.
He added the regulator had also been tasked with preventing the video from spreading and blocking access to any copies of the original that have already been published online.
The official spokesperson for the Prosecutor General's Office, Marina Gridneva, said the footage had been passed onto Russia's security service, the FSB, to investigate the video on terrorism-related charges, Interfax reported Thursday.
In the video, which was reportedly filmed in an airport in the Syrian province of Raqqa, an extremist militant warns: "We will with the consent of Allah free Chechnya and all of the Caucasus! The Islamic State is here and will stay here, and it will spread with the grace of Allah!"
The man, who is seated in a fighter jet, also had a personal message for Russian president: "This message is for you, Vladimir Putin! These are the aircraft you sent to Bashar [Assad], and we're going to send them to you. Remember that!"
The Islamic State has made significant gains in Iraq and Syria in recent months, though there is as yet no known link between the group and the Caucasus Emirate, a militant group active in the restive Caucasus region.
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