A "mobster" is controlled during a joint anti-terrorist exercise held by China and Kyrgyzstan frontier forces in Kizilsu Kirgiz Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

MOSCOW, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday it had detained 11 members of a religious cell in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk suspected of recruiting militants for terrorist groups in Syria and Afghanistan.

According to a statement of the Krasnoyarsk regional FSB division, quoted by TASS news agency, the members of the cell are suspected of carrying out propaganda of terrorism in the region.

Two members of the cell, who came to Krasnoyarsk from Kyrgyzstan, are suspected of organizing a channel for transferring radical-minded individuals to territories under the control of international terrorists, the statement said.

The leader of the cell had established a direct telephone connection with members of terrorist organizations, it said.

The FSB discovered and seized forbidden religious literature belonging to the cell.

The regional FSB division brought criminal charges against two organizers of the cell on the grounds of "preparation for participation in the activities of the organization, which by law is considered terroristic" and "promotion of terrorist activities."