Putin in an interview blamed US for the rise of Al-Qaeeda and Osama Bin Laden, that pushed Soviet Union to send troops to Afghanistan. He also held US responsible for CIA supported terrorism in Russia’s Chechnya. In the first episode of Stone’s hugely anticipated Showtime series, which aired Monday night, the Russian leader reflected on the origin of Islamic extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda. In the first episode of Stone’s highly anticipated Showtime series, which aired on Monday, Vladimir Putin expressed his views on the origin of Islamic extremist groups including Al-Qaeda. “Al-Qaeda is not the result of our activities. This is the result of activities of our US friends. This all started in the times of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, when the US security services supported different movements of Islamic fundamentalism in their struggle against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan,” Putin stated, adding to that “US side has nurtured both Al-Qaeda and [Osama] bin Laden.” US should have known the consequences of supporting extremist groups and how it could get out of hands. “It always happens like this. Our US partners should have been aware of it. It is their fault,” Putin said. Moreover he said, US supported and financed the Islamic militant groups in Russia during the two Chechen wars. He also added that there is evidence available for CIA’s activities in Russia and those they have also admitted of training terrorists. “If we speak about a political support, there is no need in proving evidence. It has been done publicly, openly. And if we speak about urgent financial support – we have such evidence and furthermore have already provided it to our US colleagues,” President said.. Putin uncovered that he had communicated with the then US President G.W Bush and asked him to stop supporting Chechen wars with the help of CIA. In response to that Bush said, “deal with it”. “Indeed, we have later received via our partner links a letter from the US CIA, which said that our colleagues consider that they have a right to maintain relations with all the representatives of the opposition and would continue to do so. It was obvious that it was not only about opposition groups, but about terrorist groups and organizations,” Putin added. Touching on the issue of the current state of the US-Russian relations, Putin said that if the US strategy toward Russia is indeed focused on disrupting its economy and toppling its government to get hold of its vast nuclear stockpile, then it is incredibly shortsighted. Talking about the current US-Russian relations he said that US has always stood-up to disrupt our economy and because they want to take control of our nuclear stockpile. “I think that it is a wrong policy exactly because such understanding of relations with Russia is not aimed at future. People, who think like that, do not see further than 25-50 years ahead,” Putin said, adding that attempts to turn Russia state into a vassal state will inevitably backfire. The Russian president argued that the US has “got a false sense that it is able to do everything without any consequences,” in particular after the Soviet Union’s collapse. “In such a situation, a man or a country begins to make mistakes… The state begins to function ineffectively. One mistake follows another. That is the trap in which, as I believe, the United States got caught into,” Putin reflected.