Putin urges end to geopolitical games, suggests collective fight against terrorism

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged all countries Wednesday to abandon outdated geopolitical games and create a global security system to curb the rising threat of terrorism.

"We need to create a modern, nonaligned collective security system. Russia is open to discuss this important issue and has repeatedly declared its readiness for dialogue," Putin said in an address to the State Duma, Russia's lower parliament house, on Russia's Day of Remembrance and Grief, marking Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.

Today all countries should abandon "old and worn-out ideological differences and geopolitical games," and unite in the fight against international terrorism, Putin said.

Warning that the risk of propagation of terrorism is rising, Putin lamented that Russia did not see any positive response from its partners on the suggestion of a joint anti-terror fight.

"The major lesson (of World War II) is well-known: It could have been prevented, and there could have been a timely and firm suppression of the rampaging Nazis and their accomplices," Putin said.

On the contrary, NATO is intensifying its aggressive rhetoric and actions already near our borders, which forces Russia to pay special attention to enhancing its defense capability, the Russian president said.

Relations between Russia and the West have reached their lowest level since the Cold War in the wake of the Crimea crisis in early 2014. On June 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the deployment of four multinational battalions to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Endi