Moscow: In an interview published on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “Russia wants to fight terrorism jointly with the rest of the world”. Putin said in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper, “We have common threats, and we still want and seek that all the countries, both in Europe and the whole world, join their efforts to combat these threats”. He also said that Russia should have clearly outlined the course of its national policy and interests a quarter of century ago and the failure to do so was a mistake, according to Russia’s (TASS) News Agency.

“We have not stated our national interests while it was necessary to do so since the very beginning. Perhaps in that instance the whole world would have been more balanced”. Putin also said, “Russia’s attempts to convince NATO against military involvement in Libya and Iraq had nothing to do with the alleged anti-Western rhetoric and were voiced only as a warning from possible mistakes”.

“We have been actively opposing everything that took place, let us say, in Iraq, Libya and some other countries” . “We used to say do not do it, do not get involved there and make mistakes.” “Nobody listened to us! On the contrary, it was believed that we [Russia] assumed some sort of anti-Western stance, which is hostile toward the West,” Putin said.

Russia’s air force is attacking targets in Syria and Moscow says it aims to undermine the militant Islamic State (IS) group, which has been joined by thousands of Russian citizens and now poses a serious threat to national security. The group claimed responsibility for downing a Russian airliner over Egypt in October, killing 224 people.