Turkey may not be able to contain militants from the ISIS terror group (outlawed in Russia) active in northern Syria while conducting a military operation in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State.
"There are areas in northern Syria where ISIS are active militants. Kurdish units used to keep an eye on those areas but now that Turkish troops are entering the region, they [Kurds] may just flee away," the Russian leader said, expressing doubt that the Turkish army will be able to take control of the situation.
The Russian head of state added that according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, there are hundreds if not thousands of militants in the area. "If we talk about CIS countries, it is a real threat to us all," Putin stressed.
"Where will they [the militants] go? Will they go deeper into Syria, to areas that no one controls, and then move to other countries of the region via Iran? We should understand what things are like there and muster our intelligence resources to thwart this new threat," TASS cited the Russian president as saying.
