Lavrov says after meeting with Kerry Russia, US have close positions on countering Islamic State

NEW YORK, September 27. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the two countries had similar approaches to issues of countering the terrorist organization Islamic State. "Our positions are rather close. John Kerry has confirmed today that the United States and its coalition have just one goal - to counter terrorists and to counter the Islamic State. This is our goal too. And the only thing that stands in the way of making our positions still closer is the practical aspect of this common goal," Lavrov told journalists. He stressed all actions "should rely on the solid basis of the United Nations Charter, consent from the states concerned and support from the United Nations Security Council." "The United States thinks its coalition needs no such approval from the United Nations Security Council. We think this is an obvious violation of international law," Lavrov said, adding that the sides nevertheless were demonstrating their willingness to work together. "The more often and the more regularly such issues are discussed at the level of professionals, the easier it will be to solve the difficult problem we are facing," he said. The Islamic State is an Islamic terrorist organization banned in Russia. In 2013-2014, it was known under the name the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and operated mainly in Iraq and Syria. In June 2014, the Islamic State announced the establishment of an "Islamic caliphate" (a state with a Sharia form of government) on the territories it had seized and reduced its name to the Islamic State. According to the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency, the extremist group numbers around 30,000 people. The Iraqi authorities say however it has up to 200,000 gunmen. Among members of the group are citizens of 80 countries, including France, Great Britain, Germany, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, U.S., Canada, Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Islamic State militants reportedly control up to 40 percent of the Iraq’s territory and about 50 percent of the Syrian territory. Read more