MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting on Tuesday with the heads of diplomatic missions of Arab countries accredited in Moscow and the mission of the League of Arab States (LAS) during which he briefed the diplomats on the events unfolding around Ukraine in the context of the special military operation.

"The head of Russia’s foreign policy agency informed the Arab diplomats in detail about the developments around Ukraine in the context of the special military operation conducted by Russia," a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

According to the diplomatic agency, the meeting’s participants reviewed a wide scope of issues of Russian-Arab interaction related to the fundamental interests of the peoples of Russia and Middle Eastern and North African countries as well as to the tasks of ensuring peace and security in the region.

"Moscow also confirmed its intent to intensify ties with Arab countries in the political, trade and economic, investment and cultural spheres, both in a bilateral and multilateral format, including within the framework of the existing mechanisms of interaction along the Russia-LAS and Russia-GCC (The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf - TASS) lines," the ministry noted. "Special attention was paid to issues of the Middle Eastern settlement, the promotion of a comprehensive settlement in Syria and the normalization of the situation in Libya and Yemen," the statement said.