Russia still important to Arab world, Bahraini FM says
Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa has denied critics' claims that Russia has lost its positions in the Arab world due to its position on Syria, RIA Novosti reported.
"Our meeting today testifies to the opposite. Russia has for decades supported the Arab world, so today we are with Russia," Al Khalifa told journalists on Wednesday after a ministerial meeting that focused on the dialog between Russia and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh.
He said Arab countries will keep cooperating with Russia to seek a solution to the Syrian conflict.
A number of disparate groups making up the motley Syrian opposition agreed on Sunday to form a unified coalition set to represent all opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, following the talks in Qatari capital Doha, ongoing since the start of the past week.
Since its start in March 2011, the Syrian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, according to various Syrian opposition groups. The UN puts the death toll at 20,000-30,000 people.
The West is pushing for President Assad's ouster while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in Syria, saying that the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed. Veto-wielding Moscow and Beijing have three times blocked sanctions resolutions on Syria.
The GCC is made up of Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman.