Putin Sees Direct Link Between Fight Against Terrorism, Refugee Crisis

There is a direct link between counterterrorism efforts and Europe's refugee crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Turkish media on Friday ahead of the G20 Summit.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The International Organization for Migration estimates that over 812,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year. Many refugees use Balkan land routes via Turkey to flee conflicts and poverty in their countries of origin, fueling Europe's greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

“At the proposal of the Turkish Presidency, the fight against terrorism and the problem of refugees will be discussed at the G20 Summit. This is not surprising. In our opinion, there is a direct link between these issues and the Summit’s agenda,” Putin said.

Putin expressed confidence that the November 15-16 gathering in the southern Turkish city of Antalya would contribute to finding a “practical solution” to Europe’s refugee crisis and would be backed by a document consolidating common approaches in the areas.

“Sustainable development, economic growth, global trade expansion, investments, and employment greatly depend on how successful the international community is in responding to today’s most urgent challenge – terrorism, and the problem of refugees that stems from chaos and violence,” the Russian leader stressed.

Putin added that the upcoming summit, bringing together developed and emerging economies accounting for 85 percent of the world’s production, will focus on sustainable and balanced economic growth.