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Fight against Islamic state

Lavrov: Islamic State’s plans not confined to Middle East

Moscow is seriously worried that several thousand of Islamic State gunmen are citizens of Russia and its neighbors, Russian Foreign Minister says

© EPA/HAIDER AL-ASSADEE

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Islamic State militants seize 70% of Syria’s territory — Russian defense minister

ROME, December 11. /TASS/. Plans of Islamic State terrorists are not confined to the Middle East only, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after talks with his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni.

"Threats coming from the Islamic State are obvious for all," he said. "The Islamic State is not only Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State has taken root and sprouted up in Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen. It manifested itself in a terrorist attack on Adan’s governor, in a criminal attack on the Russian plane in Sinai, in terrorist attacks in Paris, Mali, in other African countries, in acts of terror in California."

"Either the Islamic State or people it is seeking to recruit are behind all this," Lavrov stressed. "Their plans are not confined to the geography of the Middle East. They have officially proclaimed that their ultimate goal is to establish a caliphate stretching from Portugal to Pakistan. We are seriously worried that several thousand of Islamic State gunmen are citizens of Russia and our neighbors. They have plans in the North Caucasus as well."

"We are confident that such plans of the Islamic State in respect of other states are to be serious motivation to prompt us put aside any ambitions, any geopolitical and time-serving considerations and get united in the name of the key goal to exterminate this criminal group," the Russian foreign minister underscored.

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Sergey Lavrov Islamic State

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