On the same day that a Hamas delegation made a rare visit to Moscow to discuss the crisis in Gaza, President Vladimir Putin warned in a speech that the conflict has the potential to spread well beyond the Middle East.
In a Wednesday meeting at the Kremlin, he decried Israel's indiscriminate airstrikes on the Gaza Strip which have left over 7,000 people, mostly civilians and at least half of them women and children, dead. "Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence," said Putin, as cited from an official transcript.
"Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences." That's when the Russian president emphasized, "And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East."
The meeting involved Russian religious leaders of different faiths. In the remarks Putin also blamed the West for sowing the seeds of escalation, and for turning a blind eye as unprecedented rates of civilian casualties mount in Gaza. According to more of Putin's words:
The aim, he said, was to "launch a real wave of chaos and mutual hatred not only in the Middle East but also far beyond its borders. For this purpose, among other things, they are trying to play on the national and religious feelings of millions of people."
He said certain "unnamed forces" were behind this broader destabilization campaign. Putin has in prior years condemned Washington's illegal occupation of sovereign Syrian territory as well, and Russian and US military convoys have on occasion come close to clashing on several occasions in past years.
No comments:
Post a Comment