IS created with Western support to eliminate al-Assad regime - Russian Deputy Defense Minister Antonov
ST. PETERSBURG. June 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The Islamic State created for elimination of the Syrian government regime led by Bashar al-Assad has bred terrorists and extremists who got out of control, says Anatoly Antonov, Russia's Deputy Defense Minister.
"We are particularly concerned by the formation in Iraq and Syria of the terrorist quasi-state entity, the Islamic State," Antonov told reporters in St. Petersburg on Tuesday after a meeting of the defense ministers from the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
"(IS) was created with financial and military assistance from Western countries and their allies to eliminate the Bashar al-Assad regime," he said.
"Now terrorists and extremists got out of control and are promoting their own interests," Antonov said.
He also stressed that "the ongoing processes affect [the SCO members] directly."
"It is no secret that thousands of extremists, including from the SCO member states, gain experience in the Middle East. We have observed in France, in Denmark and in other countries what these militants are capable of upon returning home," Antonov said.