MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Moscow invites African countries to participate in Russia’s initiative to create a database on foreign terrorist militants, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with the top diplomat of Cote d'Ivoire, Marcel Amon-Tanoh.
Lavrov pointed out that Russia was promoting a number of initiatives in the war on terror, including the establishment of a truly global anti-terrorism coalition "free from double standards."
"From the practical standpoint, our National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which has been operating under Russia’s FSB for quite a while, has created a database that makes it possible to track the movement of foreign terrorist militants. It is a very urgent task because terrorists are moving from Iran and Syria to Libya and Afghanistan, then to Central Asian countries and even Southeast Asia. The database already involves about 40 intelligence services from 35 countries, as well as the Interpol, the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Regional Antiterrorist Structure. We invite our African friends to join the project," Lavrov said.
According to the Russian top diplomat, the project could be of particular interest for African countries because although the threat from the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia) has been eliminated, extremist units still continue to send their emissaries to neighboring and even far away countries, which poses a threat to the African continent as well.
"We have thoroughly discussed it all today. The practices of Al-Shabab, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb show that terrorist activities on the African continent are expanding, these terrorist organizations boost cooperation with each other, coordinating their malicious plans. The fight against it all is very important, particularly in terms of resolving conflicts, because threats from terrorist and extremist groups emerge in various conflicts, including those in Somalia, Mali and the Sahel region," the Russian foreign minister explained.