MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Western countries are trying to pit the Islamic world against Russia, said Vitaly Naumkin, the research director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Russophobia and Islamophobia are moving in parallel. It is quite obvious that today some of our Western partners are very actively provoking civil strife, discord between the Christian and Islamic worlds, between Russia and the Islamic world," he said at the opening of the 6th International Scientific and Expert Forum Russia - Middle East, organized by the Evgeny Primakov Center for International Cooperation jointly with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to Naumkin, when it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, "there is also the issue of Islamophobia, which is widespread in the Western world." Furthermore, the expert pointed out, it is also necessary to "look at the background of Russophobia that relations between Russia and the Middle East are facing."