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Russian President’s special envoy: Middle East terrorists riding on wave of protest moods to achieve petty goals

“The wave of protest moods in the Arab East gave a new lease of life to the terrorist groupings concentrated around Al Qaida,” he said
Photo EPA/JAMAL NASRALLAH
Photo EPA/JAMAL NASRALLAH

MOSCOW, September 27 (Itar-Tass) - Terrorist groupings in the Middle East make a ploy of ordinary people’s protest moods to achieve their own petty goals, Alexander Zmeyevsky, the Russian President’s special envoy for cooperation in fighting with organized crime said Friday while taking the floor at a global antiterrorist forum underway in New York.

“The wave of protest moods in the Arab East gave a new lease of life to the terrorist groupings concentrated around Al Qaida and its regional affiliations,” Zmeyevsky said. “They utilized the chances arising from the chaos and degradation of state institutes.”

“The risks of a spread of extremist ideology have jumped up,” he went on. “Jihadist groupings have unfolded recruitment campaigns and the training of paramilitaries on an unprecedented scale - and not only in the zones of conflict but also in some European countries where the militants return fully prepared to apply their combat experience and to bring new supporters of radicalism and violence under their banners.”

Zmeyevsky underlined a special significance of the principled and persistent line on the part of the international community aimed to denounce and curb terrorism in all of its forms and showings.

“Any deviation from this line in pursuit of political stratagems will undermine trust and practical collaboration between states, including the one in the framework of this forum, and will thus put off the prospects for implementing the objectives it sets forward,” he said.

Zmeyevsky mentioned the importance of taking account of the ethnic specificity of one or another region when antiterrorist or anti-extremist measures are considered.

“Memorandums of recommendations or other proposals shouldn’t get automatic recognition at the UN as something universal,” he said. “Observance of appropriate procedures and broad discussions are necessary all the same.”

“They are called upon to help the states acting on a voluntary basis and to help them establish close cooperation with foreign partners,” Zmeyevsky said.

“Also, these documents should be scrutinized actively at various international floors, including the UN,” Zmeyevsky said.