MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. US bases in Arab countries have done nothing to help these nations, but if they want to host them, that's their sovereign right, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko stated.

"As for foreign troops in the Middle East, I have already said that US bases and US military personnel on the bases of various Arab states have so far contributed nothing positive to the Persian Gulf countries. They have not been able to protect them from strikes, but have only brought disaster to these countries," he said at the 6th International Scientific-Expert Forum "Russia - the Middle East," organized by the Primakov Center for Foreign Policy Cooperation together with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"But, naturally, we proceed from the fact that it is the exclusive prerogative and right of the states of the Arabian Peninsula themselves to determine whether they will provide their territory for the deployment of foreign military personnel or not. They are independent states and are free to act as they see fit. We can only express our opinion," the diplomat noted.