Sergei Ivanov On Leading Role Of International Organisations In Anti-terrorist Operation In Afghanistan

Russia thinks it necessary to draw the attention of the world community to the importance of increasing the role of international organisations responsible for security and reacting to terrorist attacks worldwide, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told the upper house of the Russian parliament Wednesday. Identifying these organisations as the United Nations and its Security Council, Ivanov added that another important task facing the world community was to "perfect the international legal base." The UN has already taken a number of important decisions "to regulate, to some extent, the struggle against international terrorism in general and the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan in particular." According to the minister, Russia has repeatedly told its partners about the importance of applying measures to organisations acting in Western Europe and other countries, "the ones that use religion to propagate extremism, hire mercenaries and send them to the world's 'hot spots'."