19.02.2018, Moscow.
Russia has to be heard and listened to on the issues of Middle East due to its strong position in the region, said Aleksey Pushkov, the Chairman of the Federation Council’s Commission on Information Policy and Media Relations of the Russian Federation, in a live interview during the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov TV show from Munich on the air of the Russian Channel 1.
Pushkov spoke about his taking part in the discussion regarding the issues of the Middle East with John Kerry, the former US Secretary of State; Binali Yildirim, the Turkish Defense Minister; Steffan de Mistura, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, and other participants.
“I have to say yes, it (Russia’s position – Editor’s note) was definitely heard, we have pretty strong arguments in the Middle East. Now, Russia is the country that’s at the center of diplomatic efforts to stabilize this region. By the way, everyone admits this. Nobody questioned the key role of Russia in Syria and the Middle East in general,” Pushkov said.
According to Pushkov, there is an understanding that Russia’s role is so significant that it is simply impossible to solve the Middle East problems without it.
“Kerry said an interesting thing that, yes, we do not agree with Russia on many issues, but it does not interfere with, and should not prevent us from working together on preserving the Iran deal, working together on implementing the Paris climate agreement, and even in Syria, we also should interact with each other this way … “, summed up Pushkov, noting that this does not at all mean that they agree with Russia on everything, but they “definitely listen carefully and hear (Russi – Editor’s note).”.
The 54th Munich Security Conference (MSC-2018) was traditionally held in the Bayerischer Hof Hotel from 16 to 18 of February in the German city of Munich. It was attended by participants from more than 40 countries, including Russia.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
