Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement Tuesday rejecting criticism of his deploying military forces to defend the Assad regime in Syria, declaring that cooperation with the regime is necessary to defeat the Islamic State (IS) terror militia, protect what’s left of Syria’s civilian population and stem the tide of refugees fleeing into Europe. “People are fleeing Syria primarily to escape fighting that has been fueled from the outside with supplies of weapons and hardware, they are fleeing to escape terrorist atrocities,” he said. “Without Russia’s support for Syria, the situation in the country would have been worse than in Libya, and the flow of refugees would have been even bigger.” Read More
