MOSCOW, June 12, /ITAR-TASS/. The seizure of Iraqi cities by militants is a result of the U.S. policy in the region, State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov said on Thursday, June 12.
“The United States did such an excellent job ‘restoring order’ in Iraq that Islamic fundamentalists have already seized Mosul there and are storming Baghdad now,” Pushkov wrote on his Twitter account. “Such is the result of the ten-year occupation.”
On Wednesday, June 11, militants from the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is operating in Iraq and Syria, have taken control of Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city and one of the major transport hubs, and captured several Turkish diplomats. They have also threatened to attack Baghdad.
The Russian Foreign Ministry voiced concern about militants’ activities. “According to reports, armed gangs of militants from the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is operating in Iraq and Syria, have taken control of Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city and one of the major transport hubs. Numerous casualties have been reported, and hundreds of thousands of refugees are leaving their homes heading to the Kurdish and central parts of the country. Extremists shave seized a considerable number of weapons and military hardware,” the ministry said.
Militants have also seized prisons, releasing their inmates, including those who were sentenced for terrorist activities. “There is information indicating that terrorists are trying to further expand the area under their control in Iraq,” the ministry said.
“Moscow condemns these inhuman and criminal actions in the strongest possible terms. We support with all possible means the government and political forces of Iraq in their confrontation with the militants,” it said.
The ministry believes that “national consensus, consolidation of efforts to resolve existing problems through broad dialogue and consensus-based agreements between all parties to the internal Iraqi conflict will raise an effective barrier against extremists”.
At the same time, the ministry expressed regret that the ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) activities are assessed differently by Western partners depending on whether terrorists carry out their attacks in Iraq or Syria.
“Double standards in the assessment of one and the same grouping ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ in Iraq and Syria are regrettable,” the ministry said.
“While noting statements made by Washington and some other Western capitals in connection with the latest events in Iraq, we hope that all responsible members of the international community will act consistently and proceed from the understanding that considerations of political expediency are unacceptable when it comes to the unequivocal rejection of terrorism,” the ministry said.
“The activity of terrorists becomes increasingly regional, which will inevitably entail large-scale negative consequences for both the population and the economy of the Middle East states and will seriously threaten their territorial integrity,” the ministry said.