Putin: Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan Actively Cooperate in Fight against Terrorism

Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan are certainly disturbed by the two major hotbeds of instability - Afghanistan and the Middle East, in the immediate vicinity of their boundaries. The threat of international terrorism and cross-border crime, the flow of drugs, arms smuggling, and movement of militants are coming from there. In an interview with Azertaj this was said by the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"There should be no double standards and it is impossible to divide terrorists into "good" and "bad". And, of course, it is unacceptable and extremely dangerous to attempt to use terrorist and radical extremist groups in political or geopolitical interests.

These principles are actively promoted by our country in the international community, seeking to maximize and strengthen multilateral cooperation both at the political level and between law enforcement bodies and special services.

Today we can say that Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran have established a close dialogue in this area. Thus, with Baku we interact within the framework of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Centre, as well as on a bilateral basis. We have proximity of the key approaches with Tehran. We see additional features in the deepening of multilateral anti-terror cooperation in the SCO.

Together with Iranian partners we carry out the Clean Caspian operation to curb the illicit drug supply channels. Great potential is available at the forum Caspian Antidrug Five.

I think there are very good prospects for intensifying anti-terrorist and anti-drug interaction in the trilateral format," said Putin. -02D-