MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. International terrorism supported by shadowy sponsors remains a global threat to the entire world, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov said.

"Not without external assistance, hotbeds of tensions erupt across the planet, and international terrorism, with support from shadowy sponsors, remains a global threat," Gerasimov said in opening remarks at a meeting in Moscow of the committee of the general staff chiefs of the armed forces of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states.

According to the senior Russian general, CIS countries, faced with increasingly real and diversified challenges, must have "well-equipped and well-trained armies."