MOSCOW, September 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow has expressed "solidarity with Lebanon in its struggle against the challenges of international terrorism and declared that it intends to render the necessary assistance to Beirut," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

The statement was made upon the completion of a meeting of deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov with visiting Lebanese Interior Minister al-Nouhad Mashnuk who arrived in Moscow on a working visit as a special representative of the prime minister of Lebanon.

The Russian Foreign Ministry underlined "close positions assumed by the two countries on problems of rebuffing terrorism, which are based on respect for international law and sovereignty of states. Representatives of the two countries also discussed prospects for further development of traditionally friendly relations between Russia and Lebanon," the foreign ministry said.