'Axis of Terror Against the West': Putin Flames Tensions During Meeting With Hamas and Iranian Leaders in Moscow
Oct. 27 2023, Published 8:00 p.m. ET
Vladimir Putin has been accused of establishing a new "axis of terror against the West" after the Kremlin leader invited Iran and Hamas senior officials to Moscow, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Reports of the meeting followed rumors that Putin suffered a heart attack on Sunday and needed to be "resuscitated."
Three weeks after Hamas operatives killed 1,400 civilians, two of the militant group's leaders, Bassem Naeem and Mousa Abu Marzouk, went to Russia to meet with Kremlin officials.
The Hamas leaders were also joined by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani. The visitors posed for photos with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Russia state news agency TASS reported on Friday that while Putin's guests were in Moscow, Iran's deputy foreign minister had his own meeting with Hamas' Marzouk.
The Hamas leaders reportedly praised Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and his "stance" on the "war on terror," according to the New York Post.
Putin was previously slammed as a "hypocrite" after he demanded Hamas to spare "women, children, and the elderly" as the conflict escalated in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed officials stressed "the need for a cessation of hostilities in and around the Gaza Strip and the prompt provision of humanitarian assistance to the affected Palestinian population" during the meeting.
The ministry added that Bogdanov and Kani reaffirmed a joint mission to "continue close coordination of efforts in the interests of stabilizing the situation in the Middle East."
Visit the all-new RADAR SPORTS for all the on and off-field activities of the biggest names in the games.
Given Iran's links to Russia as the supplier of kamikaze drones, as well as their longtime support of Hamas, prompted concerns over the meeting from the West.
"News of the Iran-backed Hamas terror group being welcomed in Moscow should be extremely concerning to the West," Kasra Aarabi told the Telegraph.
Aarabi, the director of US-based United Against Nuclear, noted that Iran and Russia were united in "hostility towards the West" as he referred to the Moscow gathering as a "a new and looming axis of terror against the West."
Israel condemned Putin's meeting as "deplorable" and accused the Kremlin of supporting terrorism.
"Israel sees the invitation of senior Hamas officials to Moscow as an obscene step that gives support to terrorism and legitimizes the atrocities of Hamas terrorists," the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
"The hands of senior Hamas officials are stained with the blood of over 1,400 Israelis who were slaughtered, murdered, executed and burned, and they are responsible for the kidnapping of over 220 Israelis including babies, children, women and the elderly," the post continued while claiming Hamas is "worse than ISIS."