KUWAIT CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) Russia welcomes the efforts of Kuwait to settle the crisis in the Persian Gulf that has been ongoing since the start of the diplomatic isolation of Qatar back in 2017, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday following the meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah.
"We support the long-time efforts of Kuwait, as well as of other countries that stand for restoring unity of cooperation between the Arab states of the Persian Gulf," the Russian foreign minister said, adding that Moscow does not have its own initiative on the issue.
Lavrov stressed that resolving tensions in the region was in the interests of each of these countries, as well as of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Russia.
Kuwait has been long leading mediation efforts in the hope of ending the Gulf region crisis that unveiled back in June 2017 when several countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Riyadh also blamed the Arab state for alleged support of Iran-backed militants. Qatar's Gulf Arab neighbors blocked Qatari media, including the Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcaster.
The Qatari government repeatedly denied all the charges related to terrorism, saying that the campaign against the country is simply "based on lies."
In December 2018 Qatar's Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani received an invitation letter from King Salman of Saudi Arabia, a potential signal of easing the tensions. Yet Qatari leader snubbed the event and sent State Minister for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi instead.
