Moscow: Russia's Vladimir Putin implicated
Washington on Thursday in the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi and launched a tirade against Senator John McCain in
an extraordinary attack on US policies.
The Russian premier used his annual televised phone-in to
unleash the type of no-holds-barred attack that characterised
his 2000-2008 term as president and threatens to shadow his
expected return to the Kremlin in March polls.
Putin turned stone-faced when asked about a tweet from
McCain -- one of Washington's fiercest critics of Putin --
warning Russia it faced an "Arab spring" revolt over the
disputed December 4 parliamentary elections.
Moscow: Russia's Vladimir Putin implicated
Washington on Thursday in the killing of Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi and launched a tirade against Senator John McCain in
an extraordinary attack on US policies.
The Russian premier used his annual televised phone-in to
unleash the type of no-holds-barred attack that characterised
his 2000-2008 term as president and threatens to shadow his
expected return to the Kremlin in March polls.
Putin turned stone-faced when asked about a tweet from
McCain -- one of Washington's fiercest critics of Putin --
warning Russia it faced an "Arab spring" revolt over the
disputed December 4 parliamentary elections.
"The assertion that US special operations forces were
involved in the killing of Colonel Gaddafi is ludicrous,"
spokesman Captain John Kirby said on the sidelines of US
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's visit to Iraq.
"We did not have American boots on the ground in the
Libya operation. All our support was done through the air and
on the seas."
Russia had initially allowed NATO's air campaign in
Libya to go ahead by abstaining in a UN Security Council vote.
But it then vehemently criticised a campaign that Putin at one
stage compared to a Western "crusade".
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 21:36