Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called Europe's migrant crisis a predictable result of its policies in the Middle East and said he had personally warned of the consequences.
"I consider that this crisis was absolutely expected," Putin said in comments broadcast on national television.
"We
in Russia, and your humble servant in particular, several years ago
said that there would be big problems if our so-called Western partners
followed this mistaken -- as I always said -- policy."
Russia
is a long-standing ally of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's
regime, which it is continuing to support militarily.
The West
supports the mainstream opposition, which has been overtaken in many
parts of the country by jihadist groups like the Islamic State (IS) that
are being targeted by a US-led campaign of airstrikes.
Moscow,
which is not part of the campaign, has proposed extending the anti-IS
coalition to include Assad's government and its allies -- a suggestion
that has been summarily dismissed by the West.
Putin on Friday fiercely
criticised Europe's foreign policy in the Middle East and in northern
Africa, which he said was oblivious to local specificities.
"What
is this policy? It's an imposition of their standards, not taking into
account historical, religious, national or cultural traits of those
regions," Putin said.
"It's primarily the policy of our American partners," Putin said, accusing Europe of "blindly following America's orders."
He
also accused US media of being hypocritical in its reaction to the
suffering of migrants arriving in Europe, many of them fleeing the war
in Syria.
"I see with
astonishment how some American media now criticises Europe for excessive
cruelty, as they see it, to migrants," Putin said.
The
Russian leader stressed he was making the criticisms "not to say 'look
how clever we are, and how short-sighted our partners proved to be'."
"We need to work out what to do," he said.