Russia’s foreign minister says the emergence of the ISIL Takfiri terrorists stems from the United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East, but Washington denies its role in the formation of the group.
Although Moscow has called on the UN Security Council to include ISIL in its list of terrorist organizations, the United States has “categorically” rejected the proposal, claiming that ISIL is similar to the al-Qaeda militant group rather than an independent structure, Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Washington does not want to concede that ISIL “emerged due to their activities in Iraq, and especially in Syria and Libya,” the Russian foreign minister added.
Lavrov further described ISIL as Russia’s “main enemy,” adding, “That’s just because hundreds of Russians, the citizens of the CIS countries (the Commonwealth of Independent States), Europeans and Americans are fighting as part of it.”
ISIL, with members from a number of Western countries, controls parts of Iraq and Syria, and has been involved in a series of heinous crimes against civilians and government forces in the two Arab countries.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Russian foreign minister described the US missile plans across the globe as a threat “which is created on the territory of the USA, in Europe and in Northeast Asia and which is coincidentally embracing the border perimeter of Russia.”
The comments come as Washington-Moscow relations have been tense in recent months over the issue of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.