Putin: Boston Bombing Shows West's Mistake
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the Boston bombing should spur closer security cooperation between Moscow and Washington but it also proves that the West was wrong in supporting militants in Chechnya.
Putin said the two ethnic Chechen brothers accused of staging the explosions — and who have only briefly lived in Chechnya as children — have "proven the correctness of our thesis" about the need to pool efforts in the fight against terrorism.
Putin criticized the West for refusing to declare Chechen militants terrorists and for offering them political and financial assistance in the past.
The U.S. has urged the Kremlin to seek a political settlement in Chechnya and provided humanitarian aid to the region during the two separatist wars that began in 1994.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
