http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9830N620130904
Quote:
In remarks that could raise tension further before he hosts President Barack Obama and other G20 leaders on Thursday, Putin also said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lied to Congress about the militant group al Qaeda's role in the Syrian conflict.
"They lie beautifully, of course. I saw debates in Congress. A congressman asks Mr Kerry: 'Is al Qaeda there?' He says: 'No, I am telling you responsibly that it is not'," Putin said at a meeting of his human rights council in the Kremlin.
"Al Qaeda units are the main military echelon, and they know this," he said, referring to the United States. "It was unpleasant and surprising for me - we talk to them, we proceed from the assumption that they are decent people. But he is lying and knows he is lying. It's sad."
Putin did not give any more details.
In an exchange with a senator, Kerry was asked whether it was "basically true" that the Syrian opposition had "become more infiltrated by al Qaeda over time. Kerry said: "No, that is actually basically not true. It's basically incorrect".
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Well, by all that I have read, heard and seen, AQ is one of the best-armed rebel factions in the conflict. The FSA on the other hand is suffering a increasingly threatening personnel drain of fighters moving to radical groups or AQ, because they are better armed and financially better supported. FSA already is "outcoined" and outgunned - it could end up getting outmanned by radical groups as well.