WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Chechen militant leader Doku Umarov is officially considered a terrorist by the U.S. government, the U.S. State Department announced.
The U.S. State Department announced late Wednesday the designation of Umarov as a terrorist.
"The emergence of Umarov as the leader of the Chechen insurgency intensified the split between national separatists and radical jihadists and led to a movement seeking to create an Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus with Umarov as the emir," a statement from the State Department read.
The State Department said he claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in the Russian and the Caucasus region.
Umarov took responsibility for April attacks in Moscow that killed two police officers. He said in a videotape they were in retaliation for a February operation carried out by security forces in which 18 militants and four civilians were killed in Ingushetia.
The State Department notes that the Chechen leader also took credit for a 2009 train derailment that killed 28 people and a subway attack in 2010 that killed 40.
Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the coordinator for counter-terrorism at the U.S. State Department, said the designation is a response to threats to Russia and the United States.
"We stand in solidarity with the Russian people in our condemnation of these deplorable terrorist acts," said Benjamin.
The designation comes as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Washington for a state visit with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.
