{Photo} Transsexual and her gay friend escape Russia to join ISIS

Do they know the fate which befalls gays or transsexuals in Syria? Russian authorities have expressed fears for the lives of a transsexual man and his gay friend after they were reported to be heading to Syria captivated by Islamic State fundamentalist propaganda.

Dubbed the 'battle trannies' by the Moscow media, the two suspects Alexei T. and Viktor E - who prefers to be known as Viktoria and dresses as a woman - are accused of maintaining contacts with armed extremist groups.

A police source Alexander Vinogradov said:

 'We would always be interested in stopping people from joining a terrorist organisation but in this case there is a double motive, as our information is that this would not be accepted if they managed to get all the way to Syria, and it is unlikely that they would live very long once their sexual orientation was revealed.'

The pair claimed that they had suffered persecution and abuse from family and locals in the home in Kamchatka region in the extreme east of Russia.They hoped they would be welcomed if they went to Syria after watching an ISIS recruitment video online.

Viktoria's aunt said her nephew and his friend were not known as being the most intelligent people in the neighbourhood .

He 'did not have enough money for the surgery and asked relatives but we all refused.
'The next thing we knew was that they were wanted by the police after it was found they had gone to join ISIS.'Viktor had been walking around in women's clothes and wearing makeup and was living with his mum before converting to radical Islam.'She told him that he would probably be killed if he went there dressed as a woman, but he said that if he could travel there as a woman, he believed they would accept him as a woman.'