The Patriarch of Antioch and all the East John X Yazigi commended Russia for the protection of Christians in the middle East, according to the report of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
February 20, passed soveshenee the head of the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov with the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East John X Yazigi, located in the capital of Russia in connection with the awarding him the prize of the international Fund of unity of Orthodox Christian Nations.

"during the talks, they discussed the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa. Close attention was paid to the position of the Christian inhabitants, becoming in conditions of instability and bloody conflicts in order violent attacks and persecution against international terrorists and extremists. The Patriarch highly evaluated consistent and energetic efforts of Russia for the protection of Christians in the vast middle space, and Russian peacekeeping role in other areas, including Ukrainian conflict ", - reported in the document.

As pointed out in the Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in the negotiation process was also stressed the need to consolidate the international brotherhood for effective counter-terrorism activities on the basis of universal integrated approach, based on international law and the millennial tradition of interfaith coexistence in the middle East.

Lavrov confirmed the constancy of the fundamental lines of the Russian Federation on the achievement of a political settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic through an inclusive and an inter-Syrian dialogue on the basis of the Geneva communiqu? of 30 June 2012, without any conditions, and interference.

Wide expansion of the radical group " Islamic state ", has captured significant territory of Iraq and Syria, was one of the main issues in the world of 2014.

The group, numbering, according to the CIA, about 30 thousand terrorists, proclaimed in the occupied territories of the Caliphate and seeks to continue to expand their purchases.

The Christian population of Syria is experiencing persecution from Islamic fundamentalists.

sections: Politics