Bishkek, Oct. 13, (dpa/GNA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the large-scale terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel for the first time on Friday, almost a week after they took place.
“Israel has been confronted with a historically unprecedented attack” both in scale and brutality, Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, speaking on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States summit.
“Israel, of course, has the right to ensure its security and guarantees for that security,” the Russian leader said at a press conference.
At the same time, Putin accused Israel of responding “with rather brutal methods” to the violence unleashed by Palestinian militants from Gaza.
He further called for the protection of civilians and once again offered Russia as a mediator in the conflict.
In a first reaction to the wave of Hamas attacks last Saturday, Putin initially placed blame for the violence on the United States. Washington’s Middle East policy had failed because it had not sought a compromise acceptable to all sides, he said.
Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday for his first trip abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest in March.
During his two-day trip to the Central Asian nation, an ex-Soviet republic with strong ties to Moscow, Putin was set to meet his authoritarian counterpart Sadyr Zhaparov and attend a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a regional bloc formed following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Putin, 71, has barely left Russia since launching his all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022. This is his first foreign visit this year.
GNA