MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin defended his military’s air and cruise-missile strikes on terrorist targets in Syria, saying the campaign was already more effective than discontinued U.S. efforts to support some militant groups.
President Barack Obama’s administration last week abandoned its attempt to build and train a rebel force in Syria to take on the Islamic State group. The U.S. will instead focus on equipping selected leaders and providing air support to their units, including Arab and Kurdish groups in Syria.
“It would have been better to give us $500 million,” Putin said of the aborted U.S. program to fund the Free Syrian Army. “At least we would have used it more effectively from the point of view of fighting international terrorism.”
In a television interview broadcast Sunday, Putin said Russia’s involvement was legal and reasonable because it followed a Syrian request for assistance. He questioned whether the U.S. had lived up to either of those standards.