Putin Says Daesh Took 700 Hostages in US-Controlled Syrian Area, Executed Ten of Them

No one knows what’s going on the left bank of the Euphrates, which is under the protection of the United States, some Daesh militants maintain their presence there, President Vladimir Putin said, adding that they had seized nearly 700 hostages, including US and European nationals, in part of Syria controlled by US-backed forces, Sputnik reported.

“There are many problems in the area. We now see what is happening on the left bank of the Euphrates, our colleagues know that. This territory is under the protection of our American partners, they rely there on the Kurdish armed forces. But they obviously did not work it through, members of Daesh remained in several settlements,” Putin said at the annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi, Sputnik said.

 The President further stressed that Daesh had recently started expanding its presence, having taken 130 families hostage, which is nearly 700 people.

“They [terrorists] put forward ultimatums and certain demands, and warned that if these ultimatums are not followed up to, they will be gunning down 10 people every day. The day before yesterday they executed ten people,” Putin stressed.

“Our data shows that several citizens of the United States and [some] European countries were also taken hostage [by Daesh],” Putin added.

Addressing the situation in Syria, Putin noted that creation of the demilitarized zone is still underway.

He said that over these years, the Russian forces in cooperation with the Syrian army have liberated almost 95 percent of the Syrian Republic’s territory from terrorism and secured the statehood there.

The President elaborated that Russia had inflicted significant damage to the terrorists in Syria:

“We have inflicted enormous damage to the terrorists operating in [Syria], a great number [of terrorists] was eliminated, while some of them gave up on carrying out this kind of activities, they just laid down their arms, they lost faith in the principles that they used to consider true,” Putin added.

Terrorism Can Be Defeated Only by Joint Efforts of International Community

“The effective fight against terrorism — I have said it on numerous occasions, including at the anniversary [UN General Assembly] session in New York — can be ensured only by joint efforts, joining hands. Unfortunately, we have not managed to ensure that joint work in its true sense so far,” Putin said.

He explained that there were certain elements of cooperation, but it was not enough to eliminate terrorism worldwide.

“[Terrorism], of course, also poses a great threat to our country as well. That is why we have launched active operations in Syria. Terrorism poses a significant threat to our neighbors, including Afghanistan,” Putin emphasized.

On Khashoggi Case

Speaking about the disappearance of the Washington Post journalist of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Putin said that Russia did not have enough information about the case, adding that he believed that the US was responsible for it to some extent:

“As far as I know, the missing journalist lived in the United States. He didn’t live in Russia, but in the US. In this sense, of course, the US bears some responsibility for what happened to him. It goes without saying.”

The Russian President further emphasized that it was essential to wait until the investigation is over, adding that Russia couldn’t justify spoiling relations with Saudi Arabia without knowing what had happened.

“”First of all, we have to wait for the results of the probe. How can we, Russia, start souring relations with Saudi Arabia without knowing what really happened there? We don’t know what really happened there. So why do we need to take some steps towards the deterioration of our relations if we don’t understand what is happening? But if someone understands and someone believes that the murder occurred, then I hope that some evidence will be provided. Based on this, we will take appropriate decisions.”

About Relations With the US

Speaking about relations with the United States, the Russian President said that he and his American counterpart Donald Trump had different views on certain issues, stressing though that this fact did not impede the bilateral dialogue.

“We are engaged in a normal, quite a professional dialogue, and he certainly hears [me], and he does not just hear, he reacts to the interlocutor’s arguments, and I can see that. He may disagree with some things, just like I do not agree with him on some things. We have different views on certain issues, but this is normal for a discussion of two partners,” Putin said at the Valdai Discussion Club forum.

Putin added that he did not think that Trump ignored other people while communicating with them.

“This is not true. Perhaps, he behaves like this with someone, then they are to blame,” Putin said, emphasizing that he did not share the opinion that Trump was listening to nobody.

The Russian president positively assessed his meetings with Trump.

“Have our meetings with Trump been harmful or useful? I believe that in spite of the attempt to bring these meetings into discredit they were positive rather than negative… We see what is happening there [in the United States]. It is better to communicate, to be in contact with each other than… quarrel and argue non-stop,” Putin added.

He went on to say that Trump sought stabilizing the Russian-US relations.

“In my opinion, the current president is primed to certain stabilization and alignment of the Russian-US relations. Let us see how it goes,” Putin said.

Russia, China Have Unprecedented Level of Mutual Understanding — Putin

Dwelling on the relations between Russia and China, Putin said that the two nations had an unprecedented level of mutual understanding.

 “The Russian-Chinese relations had everything, but ultimately we signed the Treaty on Friendship, we reached a level of mutual understanding between Russia and China, which, according to our mutual assessments, is unprecedented,” Putin stressed.

Putin elaborated that Russia was interested in transferring its technologies to China, but not at the expense of its own security:

“We have a huge exchange in the field of technical cooperation, and we agreed that we will be engaged not only in sales, but also in technology transfer. We are interested in this, not to the detriment of our security, no one should have any doubts about it,” Putin stressed.

H.M