A Russian student detained while allegedly attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State will not be expelled from Moscow State University, her faculty dean told the RIA Novosti news agency Monday.
Varvara Karaulova, a second-year student of philosophy at the prestigious university, returned to Moscow earlier this month after a failed attempt to cross Turkey's border with Syria.
She was detained by Turkish border guards in the town of Kilis on June 4 in an apparent attempt to cross over to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist organization.
Karaulova, 19, is not facing expulsion, but will be taking a break from university, dean Vladimir Mironov told RIA. "In a year's time, she'll have the right to return to the faculty," he was quoted as saying.
Andrei Novikov, head of the Commonwealth of Independent States' Anti-Terrorism Center, told the Interfax news agency last week that as many as 5,000 Russian nationals may be among the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
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