Putin: West playing double game in Syria

President Vladimir Putin is accusing the West of playing a “double game” with terrorist groups in Syria, where a US-led coalition is conducting a bombing campaign.

“It’s always difficult to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use some of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one’s own interests,” Putin says at a meeting of political scientists known as the Valdai Club.

“It is impossible to prevail over terrorism if some of the terrorists are being used as a battering ram to overthrow undesirable regimes,” Putin said.

Putin pledges to continue to support Damascus militarily, while calling for a political solution involving all groups to try to end the war, the Kremlin says.

— AFP