Lavrov: IS - common enemy, response to threat should be complex

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. Fighting the threat of terrorism and extremism requires a complex approach, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday in a welcome address to participants in an international conference of Muslim religious activists - Islamic religion against extremism.

The minister said the topic of fighting extremism and terrorism "is in the centre of attention of this country’s leaders."

"President Vladimir Putin spoke on the topic at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly and made several suggestions," Lavrov said. "Russia has chaired a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council, which discussed fighting of the developing terrorist threat in the Middle East and North Africa."

"The Islamic State (IS) based there is not only a common enemy for all countries and peoples, but it is a group responsible for grave crimes, it is also an enemy of Islam," the foreign minister said. "IS aims at compromising Islam, ruining it from the inside."

The foreign minister is convinced "the threat of extremism is multifaceted, and a response to it should be complex."

"Thus, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of fighting terrorism and extremism in ideas, revealing attempts to manipulate the believers by deforming the ideals of kindness and justice, typical of Islam and of other world religions.".