Russia Vows to Step Up Efforts to Combat Terror Threat - Lavrov

Russia will take all necessary steps to combat terror threat and prevent its spread in the world, the Russian top diplomat said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow will step up efforts to facilitate conflict resolution in North Africa and the Middle East, including Syria and Iraq, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"I am confident that we will achieve results, and in parallel we will step up efforts for political settlement of conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa region, conflicts that have given life to this deadly danger, including the crises in Syria, Yemen, Libya. We will support efforts to stabilize the situation in other countries in the region, including Iraq," the Russian minister said.

"We will take all necessary steps to combat this [terror] threat, prevent its spread in the world, first of all on the territory of our countries, our allies," Lavrov told reporters following a Russia-Belarus ministerial collegium meeting.

Lavrov said he was not aware of the talks in Paris on the Syrian issue as the Russian side had not been informed or invited to participate. "I haven't heard of this meeting, I have to admit. We were not invited, not informed that such events are taking place," Lavrov said.

According to reports, the meeting will be attended by representatives of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Saudi Arabia and other regional partners.

Though Russia was not invited to Tuesday's meeting in Paris, Lavrov expressed hope that these talks would contribute to establishing an inclusive dialogue on the matter.

"I very much count on not just Iran, but also other countries whose absence makes it difficult to speak of the representative nature of this work, being invited to the next round of negotiations," he added.