Friday, July 28, 2006

Moscow: Hamas and Hizbullah "Not Terrorists"

Russia's Foreign Ministry does not consider Hamas and Hizbullah to be terrorist organizations.

This is made clear by the publication in Rossiyskaya Gazeta of a list of 17 terrorist organizations recognized as such by Russia's Supreme Court.

Lenta.ru writes that Yury Sapunov, the FSB's head of counter-terrorism, explains the omission of Hamas and Hizbullah from the list by stating that "firstly,not all states acknowledge these organizations as terrorist, and secondly, their activity is not directed at the overthrow of the constitutional order in Russia and they are not connected with North Caucasus extremists." [my tr.]

MosNews has a report in English here.

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