Russian Foreign Minister: The USA, the European Union, The United Nations and Russia stand on a common position in settling the Middle East crisis

Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations are seriously concerned about the situation in the Middle East and occupy a common position in the matter of settling the Middle East crisis, said Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov on completing his visit to Spain.

At the same time the Russian minister admitted that "unfortunately, we have not achieved big successes in that region and we could not stop the wave of violence." In the opinion of Igor Ivanov, this happens "not because some of us are working more actively or less." Igor Ivanov underscored that "we are in constant contact with the leadership both of Israel and the Palestine Authority and call upon them to put an end to terrorist actions of extremist groups." The Russian minister has said that Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations stand on a common platform which rests on the Mitchell-Turner plan as an initial phase in the political dialogue between the conflicting sides.

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs has pointed out that in the future the Group of Four Countries and Organisations intends to coordinate its actions, calling upon the two sides and convincing them to give up violence and resume their political dialogue. "The situation is very difficult," pointed out Igor Ivanov, "but at the present time we cannot offer anything else except active work in this direction."