Moscow is interested in cooperating with Washington on problems of the Middle East region, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister, said on Monday at the opening of the 11th Middle East Conference of the Valdai international discussion club.
"Of course, we are in favor of working together," he said in response to a related question.
Bogdanov noted that there are people in Washington who really know the situation and assess it accurately. "But we all know that there is discord between the previous administration and the current administration, between the legislative branch and the executive branch, between the different actors in US foreign policy decisions," he added.
Contacts with the US on Syria and Libya
Bogdanov said that Russia and the US continue contacts on Syria and Libya, as well as a number of other regional issues.
"In general, contacts are going on both on Syria, of course, and on some other regional problems, including Libya. We are ready for such work, bearing in mind the principled approach that we must respect the fundamental norms of international law - non-interference in internal affairs, not imposing any prescriptions on the peoples of this region. Our task is to help the countries of the region to solve these problems," he said and added that if the Americans were ready for such constructive work, it would give a good result.
According to Bogdanov, in particular, contacts of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators (Russia, the US, the UN, and the EU) at the level of special envoys have intensified, but the US is not ready to bring this work to the ministerial level. "Contacts at the level of special envoys of our four members of the quartet have intensified, but unfortunately our American partners are not ready to raise this work to the ministerial level and to cooperate with us more deeply on the Middle East," the deputy minister said.
The concept of indivisibility of security
In addition, Bogdanov said that the situation around Ukraine underscores the importance of the concept of the indivisibility of security, including in the Persian Gulf region.
"Here (in the Middle East region - TASS), taking into account the recent events around Ukraine, the indivisibility of security is a very important principle. Of course, no country can ensure its security at the expense of the security of its neighbors and other countries. In this respect, <...> the initiative of creating a collective security system in the Persian Gulf is based on this principle," the deputy minister said.
He also said that this is not a Russian concept, but a "draft concept. "That is, these are our proposals in order to revive work in this direction and ensure a truly collective security, including with the participation of Russia and other major powers, the European Union and the UN, of course," he added.
Bogdanov stressed that the interests of Russia and other major countries "overlap in this region" and Moscow sees its task as "helping this region to negotiate to ensure stability and peace."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS