Mehr News Agency – All participants need to comply with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
He made the remarks while addressing the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe on Saturday, Tass News Agency reported. “Everyone is concerned about the situation surrounding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program. We believe that the only reasonable way is for the parties to continue complying with their obligations,” he said.
Putin pointed out that the United States’ withdrawal from the Iran nuclear had a negative impact on the nuclear non-proliferation situation. He added that Russia would maintain compliance with the JCPOA. Elsewhere, he said that improving the situation in Syria requires political reforms. “We believe that stabilizing the situation in Syria is crucial for ensuring security in our region … It is important to pave the way for political reforms in the country as quickly as possible,” he added.
Putin pointed out that with Russia’s assistance, most of Syria had been brought back under the legitimate government’s control. In addition, conditions have been created for peace-building activities and the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes. “Coordination between Russia, Iran and Turkey within the Astana process is producing positive results. Together, we facilitate the intra-Syrian process, including the formation and launch of the Syrian Constitutional Committee,” the Russian leader emphasized.
“There is a need to boost cooperation in detecting and eliminating terrorist groups, as well as in cutting off their sources of finance, which include drug trafficking. It is important to make every possible effort to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on chemical and biological weapons, or any weapons of mass destruction,” Putin pointed out. According to him, “it is only possible to ensure truly sustainable stability in Asia through resolving crises and conflicts, and taking consistent steps to counter the threat of terrorism.” Putin also called on CICA countries “to prevent propaganda of terrorist ideas.”
The Russian president paid particular attention to the situation in Afghanistan, “where radical extremist organizations, including those driven out of the Middle East, seek to step up their activities.” He added that Russia continued efforts to facilitate the intra-Afghan dialogue. In addition, in Putin’s words, as the chairing country of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Russia plans to implement a roadmap aimed at boosting security, economic and humanitarian cooperation with Afghanistan, which had been adopted at the SCO summit in Bishkek on June 14.
Putin added that Russia was determined to cooperate with all CICA members to accomplish major tasks for the sake of strengthening peace and stability in Asia. “We call for intensifying joint efforts to build an Asian system of equal and indivisible security based on universally recognized principles of international law and the United Nations Charter,” the Russian leader emphasized.
