Head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Aleksandr Bortnikov warned that the terrorist group’s failed attempt at creating a caliphate does not mean it will no longer pose a threat.
Speaking at a summit of 74 law enforcement agencies in the Russian city of Krasnodar, Mr Bortnikov said the ISIS leadership has likely given its operatives a “global strategic task” to rebrand itself as an international jihadi cause.
He added: “The leaders of IS and other international terrorist groups have defined their global strategic objective as the creation of a new, worldwide terrorist network.
“Militants are purposefully spread out beyond the Middle East, concentrating in unstable regions with the aim of creating new hotspots of tension and armed conflict.
“Evidence for this is the nature and the expanding geography of their most recent terrorist attacks.
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“Over the course of this year, the number of victims of attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Mali, Turkey, Russia, Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, Finland and in other countries number in the hundreds.”
He also said that ISIS has a foothold in Afghanistan and may try to spread its influence into India, China, Iran and Central Asia.
There are also strongholds in Yemen, Africa and Southeast Asia.
But Mr Bortnikov said ISIS leaders now ask their followers to remain in the countries they are from rather than travel abroad for jihad.
He said: “The dangerous tendency that raises concern among the special services is the spread of the so-called autonomous jihad.
“One of its new elements appears to be the calls from the group leaders to his followers in many countries not to come to Syria and Iraq but to remain in the places where they live to carry out targeted hits and organise demonstrative terrorist attacks against a peaceful population.”
Mr Bortnikov also warned that ISIS poses a threat to the online world too.
Besides spreading propaganda and finding new recruits it is also forming “cyber divisions” to carry out cyber attacks.
He continued: “Considering that many computer attacks are of an international nature, the effectiveness of countering them is largely determined by the organisation and co-operation of national security agents reacting to computer incidents.
The claims come after a series of global cyber attacks on computer systems.
In May, over 250,000 computer systems from 150 countries were infected with the WannaCry ransomware.