The largest groups of the terrorist international – Al-Qaida, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS* – were born of the NATO countries’ military gambles in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the 18th meeting of heads of special services, security agencies and law-enforcement organisations of foreign states in Sochi.
Now that the terrorists have been defeated in Syria and Iraq, they, according to the Russian Foreign Minister, are using a new tactic.
"After the threat of the caliphate has been eliminated, ISIS started changing into a ramified terrorist network based on recruitment, above all the recruitment of young people via social media. It is becoming increasingly more important to coordinate common systemic approaches so that the use of the internet for terrorist and extremist purposes can be prevented", noted Lavrov.
At the same time, the fight against extremism must be based on strict compliance with international law, renunciation of any ideological and political preferences in the fight against terrorism and attempts to divide terrorists into ones that are “good” or “bad”.
"It is extremely dangerous when some countries use the concept of countering violent extremism to make the international community believe that the terrorist threats stem from the policy of the so-called authoritarian regimes", stressed the Minister.
*Terrorist groups Al-Qaida, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS are outlawed in Russia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: МИД РФ