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Putin says Syria violence could hit ex-Soviet bloc

23 September 2013 23:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned ex-Soviet allies on Monday that Islamist militancy fuelling the war in Syria could reach their countries, some of which have Muslim majorities, APA reports quoting Reuters.

He said Russia and its allies would provide "additional collective assistance" to Tajikistan to guard its border with Afghanistan after the pullout of most foreign combat troops in 2014.

Russia, which has a large Muslim minority of its own and is fighting an Islamist insurgency, has accused the West of helping militants by seeking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's removal without paying enough attention to the potential consequences.

Putin told leaders of the six-nation Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) that militants fighting Assad could eventually expand attacks beyond Syria and the Middle East.

"The militant groups (in Syria) did not come out of nowhere, and they will not vanish into thin air," Putin said.

"The problem of terrorism spilling from one country to another is absolutely real and could directly affect the interests of any one of our countries," he said, citing the deadly attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi as an example.

"We are now witnessing a terrible tragedy unfold in Kenya. The militants came from another country, as far as we can judge, and are committing horrendous, bloody crimes," Putin said at a CSTO summit in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

His words appeared to be a warning about violence spreading from both Syria and Afghanistan, which shares a long border with CSTO member Tajikistan in Central Asia.