How Did Notorious ISIS Terrorist Manage to Live Quietly in Ukraine for Months?

Even though the Kiev regime publically rejects accusations of being “hospitable” to international terrorism, even Ukrainian journalists admit that the country’s authorities “strangely” turn a blind eye to the issue.

High-ranking ISIS* member Caesar Tokhosashvili, also known as al-Bara al-Shishani, "quietly" lived with his wife and three children in the Ukrainian city of Belaya Tserkov for more than a year before being tracked and detained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 2019, reports have revealed.

The news undermines Ukraine's official position of opposing terrorism and indicates that it remains a safe haven for such operatives.

The CIA’s operation to nab Tokhosashvili - who is of Georgian origin - was conducted in collaboration with Georgia’s Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Even Western media wondered at the time "why they chose not to arrest him earlier."

What else is known about this notorious ISIS terrorist?

His arrest five years ago grabbed global headlines at the time, with The Independent quoting Philip Ingram, a former British intelligence officer, as admitting that “the lax” Kiev regime had created "an obvious vulnerability to international terrorism," something that he said "Kiev does not seem entirely interested in addressing."

He was echoed by Vera Mironova, a jihad expert and visiting fellow at Harvard University, who told the Independent that "hundreds" of former ISIS militants had "decamped to Ukraine."

"Once these terrorists get to Ukraine, they rarely encounter problems with authorities," according to Mironova.

A similar tone was struck by Kiev­­-based journalist Katerina Sergatskova, who underlined that Ukrainian authorities remain "strangely relaxed about the issue."

“Whenever I wrote on the subject, government officials have accused me of inventing the problem. But the arrest of one of Islamic State’s top commanders here in Kiev, right under our noses, would surely suggest many of the world’s most dangerous men do think of Ukraine as a safe house. Corruption in all state bodies – the police, courts, prosecutors – opens doors to abuse,” she pointed out.

With the SBU repeatedly rejecting claims that Kiev “was in any way hospitable to international terrorism,” Mironova warned that Ukrainian authorities would have "a big problem on their hands" if more Ukraine-based ISIS members "become terrified that they will be arrested."

*ISIS (ISIL/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries