Russian President Vladimir Putin called the consequences of the Arab Spring tragic for the countries affected by it, speaking at a plenary session of VTB Capital's "Russia Calling!" investment forum.
"Exactly ten years ago, the entire civilized world applauded the Arab Spring. Where is this "spring"? Apart from the tragedy, nothing has happened. And why? Because they started to use the objective difficulties in some countries as a way of rocking the situation, to build a life in these countries according to their own standards. The same attempt was made in Afghanistan. How this ended, we all know very well. We see how many of our partners say, "Yes, we made a mistake. We should not have acted this way in Afghanistan," but continue to do so in other regions of the world".
"Arab Spring" is the term used to refer to the mass popular protests that have taken place in a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa since the 2010s. In several countries, the events of the Arab Spring led to a change of ruling regimes and a major political transformation, while for Libya, Yemen and Syria they turned into protracted civil wars.
Russia's relations with Middle Eastern countries have recently strengthened and are traditionally characterized by pragmatism and efficiency, Putin said.
"First of all, as far as the Middle East is concerned. The Middle East is a region of the world with which we traditionally have very close and very good relations. With almost all countries of this region. And over the last decades, they have also improved, they have become more pragmatic and efficient," the president said.
According to him, the key to success is "respect for the partners, their traditions, their religion, their history and absolute non-interference in the internal affairs and search for common ground," which is effective for both Russia and the countries of the region. "I believe that this is certainly the success of our foreign policy in this direction," Putin concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS