MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin has defended Russia’s military operations in Syria, saying the aim is to “stabilise the legitimate authority” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
According tot he details, he said that Russia wants to “create conditions for a political compromise” in Syria.
EU’s foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, called Russia’s role “a game-changer”. She said It has some very worrying elements.” EU ministers are discussing Syria now.
Going into the Luxembourg meeting, several foreign ministers stressed that air strikes should only target so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters and other Islamist “terrorists”.
The US and UK governments have accused Russia of attacking mainly “moderate” anti-Assad groups, rather than the jihadists.
“If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?” he said.
