'Difficult' Situation in Middle East Still Serves as Base for Terrorism - Putin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The situation in the Middle East remains complicated, it serves as a base for the activity of terrorist groups, and this also affects Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a final board of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

“The situation in the Middle East and in a number of other regions of the world remains difficult. Why do I talk about this? Because it affects us, hotbeds of violence and instability remain here. All this serves as a basis for the activity of terrorist groups, including, unfortunately, in the territory of the Russian Federation," Putin said.

The Russian president's comment comes after on 5 March Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed various formats of cooperation on Syria in Moscow, noting that specific details on which formats and which parties will participate are being worked out. Netanyahu and Putin met last week. During the meeting, Netanyahu praised the role of Russian-Israeli cooperation in ensuring regional stability.

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Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE this week. Besides bilateral ties, Lavrov and his counterparts from Gulf nations also focused on other issues, such as peace in Syria, Libya and in the Middle East.