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Lebanon plans to establish military cooperation with Russia

The Lebanese PM says the country is re-equipping its army

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

GORKI, September 12. /TASS/. Lebanon wants to establish military cooperation with Russia due to the plans to re-equip its army, Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri said during talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

"We continue re-equipping the Lebanese army and would like to establish military cooperation with your country in this regard," he said.

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The Lebanese prime minister noted that his country "is really suffering from numerous problems, one of which is terrorism. However, the authorities are winning in the fights against terrorists, but Lebanon still needs the help of friends like Russia." He added that many problems are connected with the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. "We believe that if political settlement is achieved in Syria, it should include, among other things, return of the Syrian refugees to their homes - I mean here not only refugees staying in Lebanon, but across the whole world," Saad Hariri noted.

The Lebanese prime minister noted that the most important thing for his country is "to neutralize all problems faced by our country, and we are now passing through such a stage when the regional situation is very unstable. However, up to now we managed to tackle all problems and provide security in our country, as well as stability of relations within Lebanon." "We need to tackle all problems connected with neutralization of threats coming from Syria, as well as a number of other regional countries, including Israel. We need to further bolster cooperation regarding intelligence agencies and relevant structures in order to strengthen our sovereignty," the Lebanese prime minister added.

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