Vladimir Putin accused the US of supporting Chechen militants
The President of Russia announced that the US "used terrorists to swing the domestic political situation in Russia."
In his interview with Oliver Stone, published by the Showtime network, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that United States intelligence supported militants in Chechnya to destabilize the situation in Russia.
"When we started having problems in Chechnya, unfortunately in the Northern Caucasus, the Americans supported these processes," the Russian leader said.
"We had an absolutely established opinion then that our American partners spoke about supporting Russia and on the need to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, but in fact they were using these terrorists to swing the domestic political situation in Russia," Putin said.
“If we speak about political support, there is no need to provide evidence. It has been done publicly, openly. And if we speak about operational and financial support… We have such evidence and furthermore have already provided it to our US colleagues,” Putin said.
The President of the Russian Federation said that he reported the situation to the then US President, George W. Bush, citing the names of intelligence officers who work in the Caucasus.
"The reaction of the US president was very correct and very negative. He said: "I will deal with it," Putin confirmed.
The first series of Oliver Stone's documentary The Putin Interviews, was released on Showtime on June 12th.