Russia’s foreign minister to attend OIC’s Istanbul meeting

Lavrov’s trip to the meeting of OIC’s foreign ministers should "deepen Russia’s ties with the Islamic world," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said.

He said that Lavrov, who was invited by the Turkish government, will invite Islamic nations to cooperate in rebuilding Chechnya, shattered by two wars in a decade.

"We see OIC member nations as partners in the uncompromising fight against international terrorism," Yakovenko said.

"We are interested in practical cooperation with the OIC member nations in rebuilding Chechnya’s economy and its cultural and educational sector," he went on.

Moscow has sought observer status in the OIC, which represents 1.2 billion Muslims. Last August, President Vladimir Putin for the first time, participated in the conference of heads of state and government of the OIC, in Kuala Lumpur as a special guest at the invitation of the Malaysian government.

An OIC delegation, including Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, visited Moscow last month and held high-level talks with Russian leaders, including Putin, Lavrov and Security Council secretary Igor Ivanov on efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

About 20 million of Russia’s 144 million population are Muslims.

Despite Russia’s claim that life in Chechnya is normalizing, daily fighting grinds on between rebels and Russian forces. Moscow has rejected calls for peace talks with rebels, calling them international terrorists who must be eliminated, but touted local elections it sponsored as a move toward peace.