Putin Compares Airstrikes on Libya to Medieval Crusades

Vladimir Putin (karadeniz-press.ro)

As the operation in Libya goes on for a third day bombing the military infrastructure of the Qaddafi’s regime in order to prevent it from attacking its own nation with heavy weaponry, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation compared it on Monday to the medieval crusades.

Putin also compared the strikes against Qaddafi to the war on Iraq, waged by the President George W. Bush, and said that the attitude of European countries and the United States towards Libya proves Russia’s goal to boost its military defense policy.

Russian Federation chose to abstain when the United Nations resolution was voted, without blocking it, but the Prime Minister said that though Qaddafi’s regime was not a democratic one still it was no reason to bomb it.

Aistrike on Libya (howtofixblogs.com)

The resolution is flawed, Putin said, speaking in front of some military factory workers, and resembles the crusades in the Middle Ages.

Vladimir Putin also said that he was concerned with how easy the decision to use force was being made in international affairs, and added that this was a tendency of the United States policies.

In this context, after rehearsing the latest American adventures in the Muslim world, Putin reminded the need of Russia to spend more on modernizing armed forces.

Russia is expected to spend 20 trillion roubles through 2020 on military advancement of the Russian weaponry.

Meanwhile, reports from Libya recount that one of Qaddafi’s sons was killed in the bombings of the European coalition. The regime in Tripoli denied this news as a lie.

The words of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sparked a furious commentary of the President Medvedev, who defended his position to abstain during the vote, advising the PM to watch his words, that it was not safe to speak of realities in terms of civilization clashes like “crusade.”

This is one of the few disagreements between the two leaders in Kremlim.