Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned politicians against exploiting terrorist and radical extremist groups out of political interests, Tass news agency reported on Friday.

"It is unacceptable and extremely dangerous to try to exploit terrorist and radical extremist groups out of political and geopolitical interests," Putin said in an interview to Azerbaijani State News Agency AZERTAC.

"In this endeavor, there can be no double standards; terrorists cannot be divided into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ones," the Russian leader said.

"These are the very principles that our countries actively promote within the international community in an effort to broaden and strengthen as much as possible international cooperation at the political level as well as at the level of law enforcement bodies and special services," he added.

"We are most certainly concerned about two hotbeds of instability, in Afghanistan and in the Middle East, that are situated in the immediate vicinity of the Russian, Azerbaijani and Iranian borders," Putin noted. 

"They pose a grave threat of international terrorism and cross-border crime primarily due to the increased drug flow, arms trafficking and movement of fighters," he said.

Putin added that the recent terrorist attacks perpetrated in various regions of the world prove yet again that terrorism can be addressed solely through a common effort guided by the norms and principles of international law and coordinated by the UN.

Source: MENA