Tsarnaev brothers have not visited Dagestan in past few years – Interior Ministry

(Interfax – MOSCOW – April 22, 2013) Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston terrorist attack, has not visited Dagestan in the past few years, the republic’s Interior Ministry, told Interfax.

“Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar have not visited Dagestan in the past few years,” the ministry said.

The ministry officials said they had learned about the Tsarnaev brothers from television reports on the Boston terrorist attack.

The foreign media earlier reported that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had visited Russia and spent several days in Chechnya and Dagestan in early 2012.

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry also denied the reports alleging connections between the brothers and Northern Caucasus militant leader Doku Umarov.

A source in the Russian defense structures earlier told Interfax the Russian law enforcement agencies are expecting to receive materials on the Tsarnaev brothers from the United States “in the next few days.”