WATCH: Brooklyn Man Accused of Joining ISIS Says He Trained Student Snipers in the Art of Pulling the Trigger

Monica StanlyFebruary 2, 2023

It’s all about how you pull the trigger.

That’s what Brooklyn resident turned ISIS sniper instructor Ruslan Asainov taught his students at the terrorist organization, a new video shown in federal court shows.

Prosecutors released a recording of Asainov’s trial in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

“I would give a three-hour lesson just about this, just to pull the trigger,” Asainov, 46, told law enforcement officials.

Accused ISIS sniper Ruslan Asainov tells a federal agent how he trained his terrorist students in marksmanship. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)

Asainov, a naturalized US citizen who left his wife and child in Brooklyn to join ISIS, traveled to Syria via Turkey in 2013 to become a “warrior, sniper and sniper trainer” for jihadists, federal prosecutors allege.

He became a sniper instructor, trained dozens of other ISIS members in the use of weapons, and tried to obtain money and equipment for the terrorist group, including night vision goggles, prosecutors said.

In the two-minute video, Asainov shattered the theory behind his instructions.

“You need to know math. You must know how to take care of your rifle. You must know bullets. You need to know optics, right? he said. “Rifles, bullets, optics. You must know ballistics. You need to know the corrections, how to make the corrections. You need to know the wind. You need to know the temperature.

When asked if he teaches all this to his students, Azianov replied: “Everyone, yes … How to actually pull the trigger.”

Ruslan Asainov gives an interview in the SIZO cell. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)

The government presented a number of expert witnesses on ISIS, sniper briefings and weapons over the past few days, as well as a federal prison department official who confiscated a small makeshift ISIS flag from Asainov’s cell at the former Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

The flag was discovered by prison officials on September 17, 2020, and Bureau of Prisoners Affairs Lieutenant Judith Woods testified that she was called to remove it.

“Several times I asked him, and several times he refused to hand it over,” she said on Wednesday. Finally he relented, asking her, “What’s wrong with that? It’s mine. It’s religious. It has to do with my religion,” she said.