Russia Invited To Mideast Meeting In Poland But Doubts Its Use - Lavrov

Russia received an invitation to the Middle East meeting organized by the United States in Poland, but doubts that it will help solve regional problems, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesda

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) Russia received an invitation to the middle East meeting organized by the United States in Poland, but doubts that it will help solve regional problems, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier said in an interview with Fox news that the US would hold an international meeting on stability in the Middle East on February 13-14 in Poland.

"We really received an invitation. We received a description of the agenda, which primarily consists of discussing conflicts in Syria, Yemen and problems with the Iranian missile program this time and Iran's actions in the region," Lavrov said at an annual press conference in Moscow.

He said the program of the proposed meeting in Poland lacked an obvious key issue of the Middle East - the Arab-Israeli settlement.

"It seems that the entire agenda is adapted to the promotion of American approaches to deterring Iran in that region. This is declared the official position of the United States, and the event in Warsaw obviously aims to achieve this task," Lavrov said.

He said the invitation stated that the final document would be drafted by the United States and Poland without the possibility of other countries participating in the process.

"Frankly speaking, it is not the normal practice in international affairs. It turns out that about fifty ministers were invited to consecrate with their presence the document that the United States would write - with all due respect to Poland - on its own. Taking into account these considerations, we have big doubts that such an event can help constructively solve the problems of the Middle East region," Lavrov said.