BAKU (Sputnik) — His comment at a meeting with Azeri and Iranian presidents came after a suicide bombing killed at least 70 people at a hospital in southwestern Pakistan on the border with Iran.
"We cannot but feel concerned about the presence of two major hotspots – in Afghanistan and in the Middle East – close to the Russian, Azeri and Iranian borders. They pose a threat of international terrorism and cross-border crime, mostly related to a rise in drug trafficking, arms smuggling and flows of militants," Putin said.
The Russian leader urged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev to work closer together to address this challenge. Earlier today, Rouhani also called for further integration between the three neighbor nations to counter regional threats.
