All news

Lavrov hopes Islamic world will back Russia’s initiative on analyzing Middle East threats

Russia and the Islamic world remain committed to a political settlement of crisis situations, Russian Foreign Minister said at the meeting of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov EPA/SERGEI CHIRIKOV
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© EPA/SERGEI CHIRIKOV

MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/. Russia expects that the Islamic world will support its initiative on holding analysis of threats in the Middle East under the auspices of the UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

"We expect that you will be able to discuss Russia’s initiative and hope that it will be supported," Lavrov said at the meeting of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group.

The idea is to analyze the problems that are behind the rise in extremism and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa in general "without any double standards," Lavrov said.

The development of joint criteria will allow carrying out the analysis of all the problems and their roots, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Russian foreign minister said.

Lavrov said one of the important activities of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group is "the mobilization of brainpower and public initiatives in an effort to promote and enrich the traditionally friendly relations between Russia and the Islamic states."

"We consider the Group as a good platform for implementing real projects, contributing to deepening the multifaceted cooperation of our nations, helping to get better knowledge about the achievements in culture, science and art, ensuring a broader and mutual access to information on how our countries live today," he said.

Russia and Islamic world cooperation

Russia and countries of the Islamic world remain committed to a political settlement of crisis situations, Russian Foreign Minister went on to say.

"Russia and countries of the Islamic world are united in terms of their multifaceted cooperation based on international law and their commitment to political ways of resolving crisis situations," Lavrov stressed.

"The Islamic world is going through hard times. Internecine feuds in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Yemen present a serious challenge to safety and security," he said, noting that terrorist activity was growing against the background of those conflicts.

Russia’s top diplomat stressed the need to keep an open mind about what is going on.