MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow is in discussions with its partners on the possibility of an international meeting regarding Iraq under the aegis of the UN, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told RIA Novosti in an interview Monday.
According to Bogdanov, a number of issues, including foreign partners giving aid to Iraq, “deserve a broader judgment and the format should be some sort of international meeting, perhaps under the aegis of the UN, in order to discuss this overall terrorism threat that is now splitting the Arab society and the region as a whole and is crossing over the borders of the Middle East.”
“We are currently discussing this with our partners,” Bogdanov said.
Iraq is a sovereign state and has a right to ask the global community for humanitarian, information, military and other kinds of aid, the deputy minister added.
In Iraq, hundreds of people have been displaced or forced to leave the country due to the ISIS offensive, but that is just one part of the humanitarian problem, the diplomat noted.
Entire regions of Iraq and Syria are controlled by militants that would interfere with the delivery of international humanitarian aid, the deputy minister stressed.
“It is a disaster, a huge problem and trouble for the population of the areas that end up under siege, under the control of illegal armed groups, radical groups,” Bogdanov said.
Asked if the UN would address the issue, the Russian deputy foreign minister said “it’s under discussion.”
The Sunni group The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has been fighting in Syria against the country’s president, Bashar Assad, and launched an offensive in Iraq this June, taking over large parts of the country, with the goal of seizing Baghdad.
On June 29, the group declared itself a Caliphate and announced the group’s rebranding as the Islamic State (IS). The IS claims religious authority over all Muslims and aspires to bring much of the Muslim-inhabited world under its direct political control.
Some media reports suggest 83,000 families have been forced to leave their homes in northern Iraq amid ISIS' extensive military offensive.
