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Middle East and North Africa

Lavrov to take part in ISG ministerial session

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned attempts to destabilize the situation in Lebanon and terrorist sorties aimed at heightening interethnic and religious tension

MOSCOW, March 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will take part in a ministerial session of the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) in Paris, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

“The Russian Federation’s policy in Lebanon is being built on the principles of Lebanon’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity and the need to solve all problems in compliance with the Constitution and by dialogue without diktat and outside interference,” the ministry said.

“We condemn any attempts to destabilize the situation in Lebanon and terrorist sorties aimed at heightening interethnic and religious tension,” the ministry said.

Russia intends to provide multifaceted aid to the Lebanese people, including supplies of humanitarian cargoes for Syrian refugees, as well as within international humanitarian agencies. “In 2013 a total of 6.5 million dollars were rendered to the Lebanese government from the budget of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. From April 2013 to January 2014 seven flights of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s aircraft carried humanitarian cargoes to Lebanon (mobile power stations, clothes, plate, fold furniture, fish and meat canned goods, rice, sugar, baby food and other essentials),” the ministry said.

“We’re convinced that the soonest peaceful settlement of the conflict in Syria on the basis of the Geneva Communiqué of June 30, 2012 will meet the interests of all Syrians to ensure stability, peace and accord in Lebanon, all countries of the region,” the ministry said.

During the stay in Paris, Lavrov is planning to meet several foreign partners over the events in Ukraine.

The purpose of the International Support Group for Lebanon (it was created on the sidelines of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2013) is to mobilize the international community to make multifaceted contribution to Lebanon that faced serious political and demographic risks due to the flow of at least one million of refugees from neighboring Syria. About 400,000 Palestinian refugees also live in Lebanon what population is four million people.

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Middle East and North Africa

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