MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is against the cliched use of the word "Islam" next to the word "terror." He expressed this opinion of his at the end-of-year news conference following a proposal from one of the present journalists for prohibiting the word combination Islamic State, because "terror has nothing to do with Islam or statehood."
"Is there anything that you can be prohibited from doing? I believe, this is hopeless. Although it is true that I would prefer not to see the word ‘Islam’ used in conjunction with ‘terror’," Putin said.
The Islamic State is a terrorist organization operating in Iraq and Syria since 2006. It is outlawed in Russia.
IS militants have at their disposal a large amount of weapons and other military hardware, including shoulder-launched missiles, tanks, armored personnel carriers and howitzers of US manufacture. According to US intelligence and the Iraqi authorities, Islamic State militants also have chemical weapons. They are known to have repeatedly used mustard gas and ammunition stuffed with chlorine in Syria and Iraq.
The CIA estimates the group’s membership at about 30,000, while the Iraqi authorities say the IS militants number 200,000. Among them there are citizens of 80 countries, including France, Britain, Germany, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Canada, Russia and other countries of the CIS.