MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Moscow expects that issues in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will be resolved through equal dialogue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, commenting on the decision by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to leave the organization.

"As for ECOWAS, we expect the problems that have emerged between ECOWAS members to be solved through an equal and trust-based dialogue," Lavrov noted at a press conference following talks with Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara.

On January 28, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger decided to immediately withdraw from ECOWAS. The three countries said in a joint statement that the community had failed to assist them in the fight against terrorism, while imposing illegal sanctions on them.