MOSCOW, June 19 (RAPSI) - The North Caucasus Regional Military Court sentenced two Karachayevo-Cherkessian Republic residents, Murad Nazirov and Ruslan Ionov, to three and seven years in prison, respectively, for recruiting Russian nationals to serve in a militant group in Syria, RIA Novosti reports from the courtroom on Friday.

Ionov has been already sentenced to 11 years in a high security prison for various crimes and was released in 2012.

Recruitment of Russian nationals by extremist groups operating in Syria has become more frequent recently. According to the Federal Security Service, over 200 people have left the Volga Region alone. There have been thousands of recruits from across the country.

The vast expansion of the IS, that has taken control of significant parts of Iraq and Syria, became a major global threat in 2014. The CIA estimates that the group includes some 30,000 militants. The IS declared caliphate in the conquered territories and seeks to expand its borders.

There is no single front to fight the IS. The government forces of Syria and Iraq are confronting the IS as well as an international coalition led by the US (limited to air strikes so far) and Iraqi and Syrian Kurds. The military conflict has killed thousands of civilians and has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Several thousands have been taken hostage by the IS.