Russia Refuses To Participate In Warsaw Conference On Middle East- Polish Foreign Minister

Sumaira FH Published January 21, 2019 | 03:41 PM

Russia refused to participate in the upcoming ministerial-level meeting on the Middle East organized by the United States in Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Monday

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2019) Russia refused to participate in the upcoming ministerial-level meeting on the middle East organized by the United States in Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Monday.

Earlier in January, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States would convene an international summit in Poland on February 13-14 to discuss the Middle East and Iran's role in the region.

"Russia informed us that it will not take part in the conference. And this is even before [Russia] looked into its program. This shows that the conference is not in Russia's interests. This is regrettable because Russia plays an important role in the Middle East," Czaputowicz told the Rzeczpospolita newspaper in an interview.

The minister added that he did not believe that true breakthroughs would be achieved during the meeting.

"We want to initiate the process, to define the working groups, which will focus on such issues as the fight against terrorism, the refugee situation, humanitarian aid, countering cyberthreats.

These are very difficult issues, so I do not expect that we will manage to agree on any strategy in Warsaw. Most likely, we will be limited to mine and Secretary Pompeo's statements," Czaputowicz said.

According to Czaputowicz, the conference could become an opportunity to make progress on the Iran nuclear deal issue.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on January 16 that Russia received an invitation to the Middle East meeting, but doubted that it would help solve regional problems.

US President Donald Trump said in May that Washington would withdraw from the nuclear deal and reintroduce sanctions against Iran. The first package of measures took effect in August, while the second one, concerning Iran's oil exports, went into force in November.