ERR in Moscow: terrorists or the United States – who is public enemy number 1?
Cooperation with the Western countries on the fight against terrorism has stopped due to the West, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“The Islamic State is a dire structure, which needs very serious attention and attacks. But the counter-terrorism cooperation mechanism between Russia and the EU, and Russia and NATO have been frozen on the initiative of the West. Cooperation is currently non-existent, while terrorists have not stopped working together,” Lavrov said.
Russia itself is no stranger to Islamic terrorism, ERR's man in Moscow, Neeme Raud, said, with painful experience of fighting Chechens.
“When reading Russian media, it is hard to understand who is hated more – terrorists or Americans?” Raud said, adding that one media newspaper even came out and said the Paris attacks were perpetrated by the Americans.
Many politicians also link the fight by Chechens against Russia to the United States. “Chechnya showed that we were practically forced to negotiate with (Chechen President Aslan) Maskhadov, who raised the question of Chechen independence. And the United States played a very active role. While they were talking about a common fight against terrorism, they were practically supporting Chechen separatism. From that it was clear there is little good in the arsenal of the West for us,” said Aleksey Pushkov, the head of the Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee.
Editor: J.M. Laats