"What we have seen is that the intense Russian air strikes mainly targeting opposition groups in Syria are undermining the efforts to find a political solution to the conflict," Stoltenberg said as he arrived for talks in Amsterdam with EU defense ministers.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that it was the “NATO countries’ reckless action, which plunged the Middle Eastern region into chaos,” not the Russian military operation, that actually brought about the current crisis in Syria.
"It is Russia’s aerial campaign of the past few months that helped the Syrians realize that they can fight on and destroy the international terrorists in their country," he said.
General Konashenkov added that before Russia launched its aerial campaign in Syria, NATO countries had spent almost three years imitating a fight against international terrorism.
"No one in the West then talked about a negotiated settlement in Syria. All they did was fixing the date of the country’s final breakup a-la Libya where the NATO countries felt so free to establish Western-style democracy," Igor Konashenkov said in conclusion.
