Local media in Russia are reporting that the passport of a Russian militant, Andrey Karasik, has been found in Syria in areas liberated from IS by Kurdish militias. The suggestion is that Karasik and his wife and two children, also Russian converts, have been killed — though this is not proven.

Karasik, 38, was a convert to Islam from Volgograd. He is listed on the Russian FSB wanted list:

2355. КАРАСИК АНДРЕЙ ВЛАДИМИРОВИЧ*, 07.05.1977 г.р. , Г. ВОЛГОГРАД ВОЛГОГРАДСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ;

(Karasik, Andrey Vladimirovich, 07.05.1977, Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast)



But colleagues and I “know” Karasik from his social media presence as the unlikely “Omar Andrew Goldfish,” an IS militant who described himself as having been born Jewish.

I am interested in Karasik’s story because it is to say the least unusual for a Russian-speaking IS militant. First, he was, by his own accounts, born Jewish, converted to Islam as an adult, lived as a religious Muslim and then was radicalized some years later or slowly over the years. He was extremely well-educated and had an excellent command of English, as his social media posts — one of which is posted below — shows. He was in his late 30s when he traveled to IS-controlled territory. His family are also well educated, with his father being a professor at a Volgograd university.

This is what the Russian media have to say about Karasik, most of which is quoted/paraphrased from this rather well done story (because it got a very good reaction from Karasik’s father) by V1.ru).

In 1999 Andrey Karasik graduated from the philological faculty of Volgograd Pedagogical University, specializing in English philology. He had an almost perfect command of the English language. In 2003, he graduated from the Faculty of Electronics and Computer Engineering at Volgograd State Technical University in the specialty “Computer Aided Design and Exploratory Design.” He had the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences, and taught at Volgograd State Technical University.

He was married to Taya, who was not his first wife, but all who knew them personally said they were inseparable. Taya, according to many people, was the ideal wife– she was ready to follow her husband into fire and water.

Andrew became interested in Islam about 10 years ago. He was interested in bodybuilding and met an Egyptian student from Volgograd Medical University at a gym. Soon after Karasik converted to Islam. He worshipped at a mosque in a private house in the Kirov district at 16 Ulitsa Lavrovaya, which was built without a permit in 2009.

After the terrorist attack on a bus in Volgograd in October 2013, there were two attempts to burn down the mosque. For 10 years, the imam was Ruslan Yakubov, a Tatar, who calls himself Abu Ramadan, a leader of the Muslim religious organization “Mahalla 1350.”

About two years ago, Karasik went to Syria, telling his mother that he was going to look for a prestigious job in Germany. Then he moved his wife, who converted to Islam after her husband, and children, the then six-year old Yasmin, two year old Amina, and year-old Amir.

Andrei’s father Vladimir, a Professor at Volgograd State Pedagogical University said his son was a romantic and naive.

“He was a perfectly sane man, except for one little point: if he believed in something, then you couldn’t budge him with a tractor,” Vladimir Karasik told V1.ru.

“To every attempt to convince him, he’d say, ‘you don’t understand anything.’ He was bored with living a regular, measured life, he had to perform feats. I blame myself for the fact that he never realized his thirst for adventures and feats in some sort of normal things. You know, there are those people who have to sail the Atlantic in a leaky tyre. That naivete plus such romanticism, with an exclamation point, and a complete detachment from life. He was fond of fantasy movies and related to the outside world as if it were unreal.”

Vladimir Karasik admitted that he learned of his son’s fate in March. He refused to disclose the source of information. He said that despite the lack of evidence that his son is dead he believes he is no longer alive and does not expect to see his grandchildren.

“When he became interested in Islam, I thought he had gone mad,” Vladimir K. said.

“I never thought it would go so far. He left in July 2014, and said that he was in Germany. He called in late August, ‘I’m in the caliphate.’ I asked him, ‘What are you doing? You’ve signed your own death warrant, people don’t come back from there.’ And he didn’t go there alone but with his wife and kids. I was totally shocked. It was a nightmare that defies common understanding. It is worse than Kafka.”

Here is some more information about him, gleaned through my own research.

I became aware of Karasik as an IS militant last year. He had a Facebook account and who posted a photograph of himself on the internet, in which — in accordance with the trend back then — he is holding a kitten. His Facebook accounts have long been deleted and his VKontakte account (which was called “boy from stars,” reflecting his father’s description of him) has a note saying that he is “no longer here.”

His social media profiles show a keen, almost obsessive interest in Islam, but he does not appear to be extremely radicalized. He posted about other interests, particularly fitness and weightlifting, including photos of his home gym. His YouTube consists entirely of videos of himself lifting weights and the last video was posted there in May 2014, presumably shortly before he went to Syria. He was also, it seems, obsessed with cars.

Karasik seemed to be searching for answers to the big questions about the meaning of life, posting on VK in October 2013, “what is the meaning of life? Why are there so many injustices in the world? Is there life after death? Does all religion lead to God? Ask — I will answer.”

Андрей Карасик

В чем смысл жизни? Почему в мире столько несправедливости? Есть ли жизнь после смерти? Все ли религии ведут к Богу? Спрашивайте – отвечу.

22 окт 2013|Ответить

In a comment made via Disqus three years ago, Karasik writes — in excellent English — about his search for meaning and his journey to Islam, and it is here that he says that he was born Jewish. His Disqus account is linked to the Facebook account (that was later banned.)

I was born in a Jewish family. I was taught that Muslims are enemies that Muslims must be killed etc etc etc. Yet I left Judaism & came across many religions, sects philosophies etc in my quest for the Truth, in my Quest for God. Finally God has guided me to Islam.

In 2012, according to photos on his VKontakte account, Karasik went on Hajj to Mecca and then visited Jordan.

By August 2014, when Karasik was already in Syria, he reposted a few posts by the IS Russian language media group ShamToday, but did not post anything of his own words.

There is no indication about what triggered Karasik’s radicalization or his decision to travel to Syria to join the IS group.

The Russian media stories about Karasik do not say where his passport was found but judging from the background information, it was somewhere in northern Syria. Whether he is dead is not yet known, and the fate of his wife and children is also a mystery. Other questions remain. What did Karasik do in Syria? Was he a fighter? Or did IS use his intellect for some other role?