By Benyamin Davidsons
On Friday July 19th, a Kazakhstan-born Brooklyn man, who the feds say moved to Syria six years ago to join ISIS, was ordered detained without bail. Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 42, allegedly rising in the terror group’s ranks to become one of ISIS’ top snipers, has been caught red-handed thanks to a trove of threatening and boastful text messages uncovered.
“You will be f–king scared for the rest of your life,” wrote the accused jihadist in a text to an unidentified recipient in early 2015. “We will get you. We will f–ing kill you,” the text raged on, as per court papers. “You heard of ISIS. We will get you. You need to obey. You need to be punished you f–ing (redacted). We will find you and teach you how to behave.”
As reported by the NY Post, Asainov was flown back to NY on Thursday under the custody of the FBI, after his detention overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces. He is being charged with providing material assistance to a terror group and attempting to provide assistance. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20-years imprisonment. “The defendant is an ISIS warrior who served as a top sniper for the organization and as a trainer,” Assistant US Attorney Saritha Komatireddy alleged to Magistrate Judge Steven Gold.
Asainov, born in Kazakhstan, is a naturalized US citizen, who lived in Brooklyn for 15 years from 1998 to 2013. In December 2013, he left the Bensonhurst neighborhood in Bay Ridge where he had resided with his then-wife and young daughter, and took a flight to Istanbul. A former neighbor described his wife as “very nice, a typical American girl”. “They were a nice married couple,” recalled Albina Veribrus, 57. “She worked in retail. He was polite, but aloof. At first he was normal, but then he grew a beard. She said they were arguing before, he was drinking, then she said he stopped and everything was good between them.” She has since moved seperately to England, a different neighbor said.
In Syria, Asainov trained to be a top ISIS sniper and firearms instructor, as per prosecutors. Incriminating evidence against him include a flood of text messages and photos he sent, including from battlefields. In August 2014, Asainov tried to recruit a NYPD informant. Though, he didn’t follow through, Asainov messaged the same informant in March 2015 requesting $2,800 with which to purchase a rifle scope. The informant didn’t sent the funds, but a month later he got a selfie from the recruiter garbed in combat gear and holding a scope on his rifle.
During his appearance in Brooklyn’s federal court on Friday, Asainov seemed subdued and quiet. His defense lawyer, Susan Kellman, said after the court appearance that her client did not like answering to the judge. “He answers to a higher authority,” she said. “He says his ruler is Allah.”
