Putin: The West Fights in Mali what it Supports in Syria

Moscow ,(ST) -Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed  his country’s  principled position on  the crisis in Syria provides  to avail the  opportunity for  the Syrian people to determine their future , maintaining  rights and security for all and then move on to make institutional changes , not vice versa as other do ,  in expelling all and extending chaos on the country.

Putin stressed in an interview to Russia’s English-language state television network RT,  that the West is fighting in Mali forces what it supports  in Syria , a matter which confirms the Western double standards , wondering where the logic in that.

“al- Nusra Front which is an essential component of the armed opposition in  Syrian is on the U.S. terrorism list,” he said ,  wondering if  this front will join the Syrian government. “

“The country was ripe for serious changes, and the leadership should have felt that in time and started making changes. Then what is happening would not have happened,” Putin said”, stressing that Russia is not acting as an advocate for Assad and blamed the West for violent upheaval in the Middle East.

Putin noted that his country refuses to intervene in Islamic sectarian conflicts . He added that  Russia has good and distinct  relations with the Islamic world, stressing “that the current developments in the Middle East worry Russia. “Egypt is now living in a state of crisis, Iraq is unquiet  and Yemen is in a tense  situation , and the same in Libya , where  ethnic and sectarian conflicts overwhelm between tribes , and the whole region now live a phase of ambiguities and conflicts, including Syria, while some from the outside  believe that what they call democracy will achieve security, stability and this is not true because we must take into account the traditions and heritage of these countries away from  foreign interventions as they did in Libya, which suffers  devastation and inter- fighting”.

Putin warned that applying  the same positions adopted in Libya on the situation in Syria will lead to see Syria having  the same developments in Libya now. He exclaimed :  “Is it not enough that there is  a terrorist bow  stretching between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where  terrorists act violently in an area adjoining  our borders, a matter which raises our concern. “

On Iran’s nuclear program Putin stressed he does not doubt that Iran is abiding by the treaty on nuclear arms non-proliferation. 

Russia is willing to further cooperate with Iran, as long as it acts within the international mandates, the President said. 

 “You don’t see proof of the contrary,” he said, also citing the recent IAEA report supporting his point. 

Speaking about mass demonstrations, the President said that “any opposition is good, right and helpful” if it acts within the law. 

He admitted that if people are not satisfied with the laws, the opposition should aim to change them in “democratic way.” 

In case demonstrators break the law, the government should control protesters, “put them put them in the legislative field.” 

“This is what’s happening both in the US and in Russia,” Putin said. “Though when we do that we are criticized, but when [United] States does, it is a norm. These are the so-called double standards,” he added. 

Speaking about the United States and opposition movements, Putin stressed that it is not right that the State Department supports “opposition in Russia.” 

“Russia doesn’t try to influence Occupy activists, yet foreign agents try to do this in Russia,” he said, referring to the Occupy movement that initially started from protests in New York and then spread worldwide. 

The Russian President concluded by saying that  the  experience of establishing RT in  2005 was intended to break Anglo-Saxon media monopoly .

T. Fateh