MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia was considering setting up a fund to support anti-terrorism agencies in post-Soviet states and other countries.
Speaking to members of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, Lavrov said: "A fund could be established within the Foreign Ministry to provide aid to countries in their efforts against terrorism. Funds could be used to boost the anti-terrorism capabilities of our partners in the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] and our neighbors that have maintained cooperation with us [in this sphere]."
Lavrov said the aid would be allocated to countries that have had problems with terrorists.
He said the fund would not give out huge amounts of money, and referenced the international anti-terrorism coalition formed following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to provide the U.S. with political, diplomatic and military support. Russia was one of the first countries to offer assistance and join the coalition.
Lavrov said countering terrorism did not always require considerable spending.
"What is required is targeted aid in the right place, at the right time, and on conditions that do not contradict Russian political interests," he said.
Russia, along with China and four former Soviet republics in Central Asia that form the Shanghai Cooperation Organization regional security body, runs an anti-terrorism center based in Shanghai.
Russia is also party to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, another security body comprising members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose union of former Soviet republics.
