#3 - RW 273
All states must take firm action against terrorism - Russian foreign minister
ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 11 September: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov thinks that "11 September 2001 marked the start of a new phase for mankind's fight for survival in the fight against new threats and challenges".

"Everyone is now convinced that it is possible to win this fight only if the international community acts jointly, in solidarity," according to the minister's statement which was made on the occasion of the anniversary of the tragic events in the USA and received by ITAR-TASS today.

"Human memory is not perfect, time erases many events from it. But that day, when a black cloud of dust arising from the collapsed skyscrapers hid the blue sky above New York, will remain in world history," Igor Ivanov said. "Remembering the tragedy in New York, we also mourn for the victims of Nord-Ost in Moscow and the workers of the UN mission and its head Sergio Vieira de Mello who were killed in Baghdad," Ivanov said.

"The weapon of terrorism is murder, and those who commit these crimes are murderers," he said. "One must not remove the memory of the innocent who lost their lives, by passing the terrorists off as `fighters for liberty' or `champions of faith'. One cannot watch with indifference how terrorists and their protectors, spreading fear and panic, are trying to destabilize the situation in certain countries and entire regions," the minister said.

"In the name of the victims of terrorism, for the sake of the living, all the states, all the responsible politicians must resolutely come up against terrorism in all its manifestations and take effective measures to fight this common evil. Russia has taken and will further take a firm and unbiased position on this," the minister said.

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