Putin Accuses US of Backing Caucasus Militants

Local Editor

In a new documentary focusing on Vladimir Putin's 15 years in power, the Russian president said communications intercepted in the early 2000s show direct contacts between North Caucasus separatists and the US secret services.

"At one point our secret services simply detected direct contacts between militants from the North Caucasus and representatives of the United States secret services in Azerbaijan," Putin said in the film, released by Rossiya 1 TV channel on Sunday.

"And when I spoke about that to the then-president of the US, he said... sorry, I will speak plainly, he said, "I'll kick their a****"; Putin recounted his conversation with George W. Bush on the issue.

A few days later, he said, the heads of Russia's FSB received a letter from their American counterparts, which said they had the right to support opposition forces in Russia.

"Someone over there, especially the West's intelligence services, obviously thought that if they act to destabilize their main geopolitical rival, which, as we now understand, in their eyes has always been Russia, it would be good for them. It turned out, it wasn't," Putin muses, saying he had warned the West about the possible dangers of supporting terrorists.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Russia was engaged in a conflict with militant separatists in the North Caucasus, who often resorted to terror attacks. This led to a prolonged counter-terrorism operation, which only officially ended in 2009.

"President" is a two-hour long documentary built around an interview with Vladimir Putin, where he recounted the most memorable moments of the past 15 years. It touched upon matters both political and personal and features videos filmed by Putin's personal cameraman and never seen on TV before.

Among the things discussed in the film was the attitude towards Russia in the West. "I am sometimes under the impression that they only like Russia when it's in need of humanitarian aid", Putin said.

Moreover, Putin also discussed the challenges he faced when he first became President. The president named the doubling of Russia's GDP and tripling of the average income among his top achievements over the past 15 years.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team