“It is necessary to fight against this threat exclusively with the consent of the country involved,” Lavrov said. “And, of course it is impermissible to use the slogans of anti-terrorist struggle for attempts to replace the existing regimes,” Lavrov pointed out. “I do hope that nobody interprets the issue this way.”
“Over the years we have kept calling for presenting a common front against international terrorism,” Lavrov said, adding that certain steps had been taken along these lines. At the same time, “there have been double standards,” he said. As an example, he mentioned repeated refusal to condemn specific manifestations of terrorism in Syria on the excuse Bashar Assad was reluctant to step down.
“Now that the IS has revealed its real worth by committing disgusting acts, our Western partners have realized that it is wrong to sacrifice the world community to attempts to overthrow this or that regime. This is a positive signal,” Lavrov said.