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Lavrov: Fight with Al-Qaeda should be prioritized at Geneva II conference

Escalation of extremism and terrorism in Syria is the most important problem - Lavrov

MOSCOW, January 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Fight with extremists and Al-Qaeda should be prioritized at an international peace conference on Syria dubbed Geneva II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference reviewing the results of 2013 here on Tuesday.

“Escalation of extremism and terrorism in Syria is the most important problem,” Lavrov said. “All representatives of world community recognize” this fact, the minister noted.

“Today, the majority of serious politicians recognize that the main threat in Syria comes from terrorist organizations with ties to Al Qaeda”, said Lavrov. “And working out the measures to neutralize them should be one of the top priorities at Geneva II.”

The minister also stressed that dictation of recipes for Syria will not lead to national accord in that country. “It is counterproductive to dictate political order recipes to other nations, they will not lead to lasting peace and national accord,” he said.

Lavrov said Russia welcomed that healthy approaches based on the logic of peace and fundamental principles of the international law had prevailed in resolving problems of Syria and Iran.

Russia consistently called for pursuing work on such ground as opposed to attempts to use force circumventing the UN Charter.

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