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Russia, Jordan agree that terrorism is serious threat — Federation Council Speaker

Despite having different approaches in positions on Syria, both countries share understanding that terrorism is now the most serious threat, Valentina Matviyenko said at a meeting with Jordan's leader
Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house Federation Council press service/TASS
Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house
© Federation Council press service/TASS

AMMAN, October 5. /TASS/. Despite their different approaches to the Syrian conflict, Russia and Jordan share understanding that terrorism is a most serious threat, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, said on Monday.

"Although we have different approaches in positions on Syria, nevertheless, Russia and Jordan share understanding that terrorism is now the most serious threat," she said at a meeting with President of Jordan’s Senate Abdelraouf al-Rawabdeh.

She said that but for some nuances Russia and Jordan stood for consolidation of international efforts "in countering this global evil - terrorism and the Islamic State." "We have absolutely identical positions on that," Matviyenko stressed. At a meeting with King Abdallah II of Jordan and with Jordan’s Senators earlier on Monday, the Russian side explained in detail Russia’s approaches and Russia’s position, she said.

Abdelraouf al-Rawabdeh, on his part, said his country stood for peace settlement of the situation in Syria. He stressed his country was against terrorism in any of its manifestations. "We think that what we are witnessing now is, as a matter of fact, the third world war unleashed by terrorist forces against the civilized world," he said, adding that terrorists were unlikely to confine themselves to the Middle East region.

"We understand it perfectly well that force is needed to rebuff them but we understand that it is necessary to struggle for people’s minds, especially of the youth who come under negative influence and propaganda," he said.

He reassured that there were no Islamic State terrorists in the territory of his country. "There is a word in the Arabic language which means ‘absolutely no,’ of a maximal negation," Abdelraouf al-Rawabdeh said when asked by the Russian upper house speaker to comment on reports about Islamic State militants penetrating into Jordan.

"We are struggling against the Islamic State outside Jordan, and terrorists cannot get here," he said, adding that the country’s army was in full control of the borders with Syria and Iraq. "Even a bird cannot fly unnoticed," he said.