MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin signalled in an interview aired on Thursday that Russia was not ready to shift its stance on Syria, and suggested Western nations were relying on groups such as al Qaeda to help drive President Bashar al-Assad from power.
Putin held out hope for an end to a dispute with Washington on missile defence if President Barack Obama were re-elected in November, telling Russia's RT television he was "an honest person who really wants to change much for the better".
Putin took aim at Obama's Republican rival Mitt Romney, calling his criticism of Russia "mistaken" campaign rhetoric and suggesting a Romney presidency would widen the rift over the anti-missile shield the United States is deploying in Europe.
In some of his most extensive public comments since he started a six-year term in May, Putin dismissed Western criticism on issues ranging from Syria to the conviction of three anti-government protesters from the punk band Pussy Riot.
Putin was asked whether Moscow should rethink its stance on Syria after vetoing three Western-backed UN Security Council resolutions designed to pressure Assad to end violence that has killed 20,000 people.
"Why should only Russia re-evaluate its position?" he said. "Maybe our partners in the negotiation process should re-evaluate their position."
Without naming any country, he hinted the United States was looking to militants to help topple Assad and would regret it, drawing a parallel with US support for the mujahideen who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the Cold War.
"Today somebody is using al Qaeda fighters or people from other organisations with the same extreme views to achieve their goals in Syria," Putin said. "This is a very dangerous and short-sighted policy."
He noted that the United States had imprisoned many alleged militants at Guantanamo Bay and said it might as well "open the gates to Guantanamo and let all the Guantanamo inmates into Syria, let them fight. It's the same thing".
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