The crisis around Catalonia and Kurdistan has become a consequence of double standards on the part of Western countries, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It turns out that among some of our colleagues there are right fighters for independence and freedom, and there are separatists who can not defend their rights even with the help of democratic mechanisms,” Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi.
Stressing that in the situation with the declaration of independence of Catalonia, there was “a unanimous condemnation of the supporters of independence by the European Union and a number of other states,” Putin asked with a question: “It used to be thought that no one knew about such contradictions inside Europe “They knew in fact, but at one time they actually welcomed the disintegration of a number of states in Europe, without hiding their joy in this matter.”
“And now, Catalonia. In another region – Kurdistan. And this can be far from an exhaustive list. And how to treat this, what will we do?”, Putin said.