Russia slams West over ISIL flip-flop

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticized the Western governments for financing ISIL militants in the Middle East and then condemning the terrorists.

Lavrov made the remarks in a televised interview with a Russian broadcaster on Tuesday.

The Russian minister added that the West ignored Russia’s warning of a growing terror threat in Iraq and Syria.

According to Lavrov, the Western powers claimed that the militancy would die out after the ouster of the governments fighting the militants.

“When we called their attention to the fact that there were a large number of terrorists and extremists fighting the regimes, [the Americans and Europeans] essentially told us that all such things would pass once they overthrew the regimes, and that they would deal with this later on,” said Lavrov, adding, “But all this turned out to be wrong.”

Lavrov said the Western powers should stop grouping terrorists into good and bad.

Furthermore, Lavrov stressed that Russia has no intention of joining the US-led airstrikes against the ISIL.

According to reports, the United States and five Arab countries – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan – have carried out at least 200 airstrikes against the ISIL militants operating inside Syria.

The ISIL terrorists control large areas of Syria’s east and north. The ISIL sent its Takfiri militants into Iraq in June, seizing large parts of land straddling the border between Syria and Iraq.

CAH/AB/SS