Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Europe of "blindly" following the "orders" of the United States in handling the migrant and refugee crisis during a press conference at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Friday. Expressing "surprise" at the position of the U.S. mass-media on the crisis, the Russian leader criticised the American position as hypocritical due to the U.S. "not facing the same level" of refugees as the European Union.