Moscow urges West, Middle Eastern states to stop flirting with Islamists
MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax) - Moscow is calling on its Western partners to promote UN decisions adopted on Monday concerning the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The international community has firmly spoken against the actions of terrorist organizations in Iraq, Syria, and the region [in general]. What counts most is that these words should be put into practice and our Western and some Middle Eastern partners practically stop flirting with radical Islamic forces and finally listen to Russia's calls to combine efforts to oppose terrorism in Iraq and Syria with the aim of restoring peace in these countries and preventing the further dangerous destabilization of the Middle East," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement available on its website.
"At Iraq's request, supported by Russia, China, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, and a number of other states, the UN Human Rights Council held a special session [on Monday] to address the disastrous human rights situation in the country," it said.
"During the discussion, the delegations expressed their extreme concern about the dramatic growth in the activities of ISIL terrorists on Iraq's and Syria's territory, monstrous crimes committed by jihadists against women, children, ethnic and religious minorities, and any dissidents. It was mentioned that it was necessary to combine the international community's efforts to organize combat against radicals in the region and to prevent this transnational terrorist group's further expansion," it said.
"Russia emphasized that the outbreak of a terrorist threat in Iraq and the Middle East in general resulted in large part from unlawful forcible intervention in the internal affairs of states from the outside with the aim of attaining mercenary geopolitical ends. Emphasis was placed on the importance of fighting the ISIL and other terrorist groups, not only in Iraq, but also in neighboring Syria where jihadists have been committing atrocities for more than two years and whom the Syrian armed forces have been fighting," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The session resulted in the adoption of a resolution strongly denouncing ISIL's crimes, including violence against ethnic and religious minorities, emphasizing the trans-regional nature of this threat, and stressing that the justification, legitimization, and financing of terrorist activities is unacceptable. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been instructed to send a mission to Iraq to investigate human rights violations on the part of ISIL and other terrorist groups. It is important that the [UN] Human Rights Council supported the UN Security Council's decision aimed at curbing ISIL's evil deeds," it said.
"The fact that the special session has been held and the resolution has been passed is a momentous event," the Foreign Ministry said.