SOCHI, October 3. /TASS/. Russia calls on Iran and Saudi Arabia to refrain from using Syria’s territory as an arena for confrontation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at a plenary session of the Valdai international discussion club.

"The confrontation between the region’s biggest and most influential countries cannot but have an effect on the entire situation in that part of the globe, including on the situation in Syria. I know that the leadership of Saudi Arabia, where I plan to pay a visit soon, and the Iranian leadership — and we remain in contact with Iranian colleagues, I have seen the Iranian president recently — they want peace and prosperity for the Syrian people. And we call on them to be guided by these noble motives, to do their best not to use Syria’s territory as an arena for confrontation," Putin said.

"And I hope very much that when and if our partners realize that and act this way, they will see that besides confrontation, there is a possibility for cooperation in the interests of reaching a common goal. But I think there are other motives to change the situation between Saudi Arabia and Iran and to move from confrontation to cooperation. Because in any case, both countries often face common threats of radicalism and separatism that are, as a matter of fact, terrorism. And they have common goals of development," Putin stressed.