Updated on 12:22 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia supports US Resolution to the UN Security Council on terrorists and foreign mercenaries, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“The Americans now suggest adopting at the [UN] Security Council a draft resolution on foreign mercenaries and terrorists. They raise the issue, and we support it. The problem must be tackled by all resources of the international community,” Gatilov told RIA Novosti.
The diplomat stressed the urgent need of such draft resolution.
“First, it will concern the situation in the Middle East, particularly the militants of Jabhat al-Nusra and other radical groups linked to al-Qaeda. The Americans suggest holding a special high-level meeting during the ministerial week at the upcoming session of UN General Assembly,” Gatilov said.
He also reminded that at the peak of the Syrian crisis Russia warned against indulging extremists.
“Back then our Western partners had one goal – to overthrow the Assad regime, and they resorted to help the extremists who were fighting and keep fighting against the Syrian government. But now they see that the problem is turning out differently. The Islamic State and radical extremists threaten the entire region,” Gatilov said.
Last week, the United States said it was eyeing Westerners joining the extremist group.
The Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a jihadist group, originally composed of a variety of Sunni insurgent groups.
IS militants have been fighting alongside the other rebel groups against the government forces in the Syrian civil war, before launching an offensive in Iraq in June 2014. Later in June, IS announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories that had fallen under its control.
Islamic State militants attack ethnic and religious minorities by seizing their territories, forcing them to flee, abusing, torturing and even killing them.
