Lavrov to meet Qatar’s Foreign Minister

Moscow, June 10 (IANS) Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with Qatars Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Moscow later on Saturday amid the diplomatic conflict in the Middle East.

Lavrov and Al Thani will take stock of diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis, Russian news agency Tass reported.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, the Maldives and Mauritius severed diplomatic relations with Doha earlier this week in retaliation for what they described as Qatar's support for terrorism and extremist ideology.

Mauritania and the Comoro Islands joined in later. Jordan and Djibouti downgraded the status of their diplomatic missions.

However, Qatar dismissed the charges as "groundless" and said that its foreign policy would remain unchanged. Al Thani said Qatar was firmly against any intervention in its foreign policy.

A number of countries had come up with offers of assistance in resolving the crisis. Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah had made trips to Jeddah, Dubai and Doha. US President Donald Trump said he was prepared for arranging a meeting of the conflicting parties in the White House.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation with Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani earlier this week reaffirmed that Moscow was firmly in favour of tackling crises by political and diplomatic means through a dialogue.

At the same time, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that he would not say that Russia had any intention of acting as a mediator between Qatar and the countries that severed relations with it.