The acts of terrorism prompted talk about coordinating the international community's efforts to combat terrorism. Expressions of solidarity should have been replaced with action long ago, Mr Lavrov stressed. First of all, this concerns better coordination between security services, particularly with regard to closing channels of terrorist funding and gunrunning. The same is true of exchanging information and experience, especially concerning anti-terrorist operations and aiding the victims of terrorist attacks.
Second, we must define the terms "terrorists" and "terrorist activity". There is no consensus on this issue, despite a string of terrorist attacks across the world over the last five years, Mr Lavrov repeatedly said during his visit.
Terrorism knows no borders, nationalities or religions, the minister repeated in Cairo, Beirut, Tel Aviv and Damascus. This is a common problem facing the Arab world, Israel, Russia and all other countries.
Moscow understood this in 1999, after terrorists attacked Dagestan. When talking to reporters at a press conference in Jerusalem, Mr Lavrov reminded them that Russia had contacted the UN Security Council at the time, saying this was a common problem that called for a decision obliging every country to fight terrorism. However, it took Russian diplomats a month to get a resolution through the Security Council that condemned terrorist attacks, obliged all countries to sign universal conventions on international terrorism and called for the creation of a mechanism to monitor compliance with these commitments. According to Mr Lavrov, most countries understood that terrorism was a common scourge after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Russia's proposals then came into their own and the UN Security Council established a counter-terrorist committee under its auspices that Russia was asked to chair.
Although most countries condemn terrorism and express their readiness to combat it, the international community has so far failed to work out a common approach to this problem. Certain events are considered by some to be terrorism, whereas others perceive them as a struggle for a just cause. There is still a fine line between guerrillas and terrorists, and many continue to interpret it as they see fit.
Here is the latest example: although most Western leaders unequivocally view the events in Beslan as a terrorist attack, some Western media referred to the hostage-takers as rebels. Moreover, some Western countries that sent their condolences to Russia grant asylum to Chechen separatist leaders. Other countries, such as Israel and Egypt, face the same problem, as they cannot persuade some European countries to extradite active Islamic fundamentalists. Consequently, though everyone understands the problem, each country remains helpless in the face of terrorism.
This situation is particularly serious where regional conflicts are still smouldering. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, these conflicts are closely linked with such global threats as terrorism, drug trafficking, organised crime and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, continuing conflicts enable terrorists to justify their crimes with ideological considerations.
Accordingly, Russian diplomacy is particularly focusing on regional conflicts, including the most neglected Middle Eastern conflict. The Arabs and the Israelis would like Russia to play an active role in the peace process. All the politicians Mr Lavrov met during his visit assured him of this. Both Israel and the Arab world would like to use Moscow as an instrument for putting pressure on the other party in the conflict.
When talking to RIA Novosti, diplomatic sources noted that Russia saw its role as a mediator as suggesting various solutions, which should not be imposed, while creating a constructive atmosphere for talks. For instance, Moscow cannot force Israel and Palestine to negotiate. The experience of the last ten years shows this is senseless because the conflicting parties may sign all kinds of agreements under pressure from mediators, but this does not mean that they will fulfil their commitments. Therefore, Russia and the other co-sponsors of the peace process can only call on Israel and Palestine not to renounce dialogue and to start fulfilling their respective commitments once again. The latter means the road map peace plan. Russian diplomats believe that, although the parties have now stopped implementing the plan, it remains the only document stipulating all the details of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Importantly, both sides in the conflict also approved it.
Mr Lavrov stressed repeatedly during his trip that a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement had to be reached, encompassing Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, while also assisting the region's normalisation in general. Israel understands this perfectly well, and claims that most terrorist attacks on its territory are masterminded by Syria or Iran. Israeli politicians are therefore quite apprehensive about the development of Russian-Syrian or Russian-Iranian cooperation.
Mr Lavrov assured his Israeli representatives that Moscow's relations with Damascus and Tehran were developing in line with international law. In particular, this concerns Russian-Iranian nuclear energy cooperation, which is under the complete control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). At the same time, Mr Lavrov said that, if the Russian leadership learned about assistance for terrorists emanating from Russian territory, if any country violated their commitments under international law as regards the non-proliferation of WMD, or if it supported terrorists, then Moscow would do its best to stop this. Today, Moscow sees no reason for suspending its cooperation with any Mid Eastern country. On the contrary, Russia advocates expanded economic and political cooperation with such countries, particularly with regard to anti-terrorism. In Moscow's opinion, dialogue, rather than the isolation of any particular country, will enable the international community to cope with modern global challenges. And this was the main result of Sergei Lavrov's first tour of the Middle East.
