Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that last Wednesday's attack on a French satirical magazine was committed by militants who had fought in Syria for the West-backed aim of ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.
“Cooperation [with the West on counter-terrorism] has been suspended. Meanwhile, terrorists do not suspend cooperation with each other. Terrorist activity knows no bounds,” Lavrov said. “The two brothers who attacked the editorial office of the Paris magazine had mastered ‘the art of terror’ in Syria, fighting with those who had been trying to oust Bashar al-Assad - an aim supported by our Western counterparts,” he added.
Seventeen people were killed in the French capital and its neighbourhoods in the terrorist attacks last week. Among them were ten journalists from the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, three policemen and four visitors of a kosher grocery store.