Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of playing a "double game" with terrorist groups in Syria, where both Moscow and an international coalition are conducting separate bombing campaigns.
"It's always difficult to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use some of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one's own interests," Putin said at a meeting of political scientists in Sochi known as the Valdai Club, according to the AFP news agency.