Russian crime boss, PKK arms supplier detained in Moscow

A violent criminal figure in Russia that Ankara believes is one of the biggest suppliers of arms to the PKK terrorist organization was detained in Moscow in an operation on Wednesday.

Zakhar Kalashov, known as Young Shakro, will remain in custody until Aug. 15, and will be put on trial for his alleged role in murder in 2014. The incident comes after Turkey and Russia started to reconcile relations that had been strained since Turkey downed a Russian jet over its Syrian border on Nov. 24, 2015.

Kalashov reportedly met PKK leaders in Baghdad various times in the last couple of months and provided heavy weapons for its armed campaign against Turkey in the country's southeastern provinces, leading to the deaths of hundreds and displacing thousands.

Wikileaks leaked Kalashov's alleged ties with the PKK, and former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed in London in 2006, claimed the same.

Shakro, once the closest aide of Russian mafia boss Aslan Usoyan, also known as Grandpa Hassan, a Yazidi Kurd, allegedly controlled delivery of illegal arms and ammunition used in the terrorist organization's assaults in Turkey.

Reports indicate that the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU, was somehow provided with many high-tech weapons, including man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) by gaining access to Syria through its local affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its armed People's Protection Units (YPG). The situation now poses a dangerous threat to Turkey's national security.