Russia’s Lavrov says no plans for airstrikes in Iraq

Russia is not planning to carry out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a UN gathering of world leaders, Lavrov said: “We are not planning to expand our airstrikes to Iraq. We were not invited, not asked.”

“We are polite people, as you know. We don’t come if not invited,” he said.

According to Sergey Lavrov, many UN member countries have expressed interest toward the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin to create a broad anti-terrorist coalition on the basis of UN Charter and international law.

“Yesterday, we held a ministerial meeting of UN Security Council on terrorism threat. Opinions were different but we agreed on one thing — terrorism is a threat for all,” Lavrov said. “I think that many [countries] showed interest and were positive about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative to create an anti-terrorist coalition in accordance with UN Charter,” he added.