Middle East remains ‘powder keg’ for entire world - senior diplomat

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. The Middle East remains a "powder keg" for the entire global community, and the events that happen there pose a threat to the entire international security, Russian Special Presidential Representative to the Middle East and Africa told TASS Monday. Referring to the famous remark, attributed to the first German Chancellor Otto von Bismark, who allegedly called the Balkans "the powder keg of Europe," the envoy said that the Middle East is the modern "powder keg" for the entire world. "Indeed, all these events pose threat to the international peace and security, so the entire global community watches over the situation carefully, trying to intervene somehow. Sometimes, more successfully, sometimes less." According to Bogdanov, this is why the issues of the Middle East are always discussed so sharply in the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, debates take place, and resolutions are being adopted. "We participate in them very actively, both as the UN Security Council permanent member and as one of global powers. There is a very dangerous situation in the Middle East, people die, infrastructure is being destroyed, refugees are numbered in millions. And I cannot single out any one pressure point in the Middle East, because we have to deal with a whole number of crises, conflict situations," he added, highlighting crises in Syria, Libya, Yemen, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in the Persian Gulf region. "I must say that our line is consistent and principal. We advocate solving all these problems by political and diplomatic methods, behind the negotiation table. All these conflicts, of course, have a certain international legal groundwork, and we call on all nations, including our western partners, to respect the principles of the international law, the fundamental clauses of the UN Charter, which stipulates non-intervention in internal affairs of sovereign states, respect of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity," the senior diplomat underscored. Bogdanov noted that Russia applies this approach to all conflict in the Middle East. "And there are very many of them, and I struggle to predict where it can ignite at any moment, because it is already burning in many points of the region, very important for the entire world, very important from the standpoint of strategic interests, oil and transport arteries. This region is indeed very important for the entire global community, and things that happen there attract high attention both from Moscow and our international partners," Bogdanov said. Read more