Hezbollah delegation in Moscow for official talks

A Hezbollah delegation arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian officials, the state RIA Novosti news agency reported, quoting the movement's parliamentary leader Mohammad Raad. The delegation from Lebanese militant group's political wing, led by Raad, was due to hold talks with Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Thursday as part of its three-day visit, Raad was quoted as saying. He said the visit aimed to show "the intention to deepen the prospects of cooperation and coordination between Russia and Lebanon." The group on Wednesday met Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the Russian parliament's lower house's international affairs committee, which invited the group, as well as other lawmakers, Raad said. "We exchanged opinions on the situation in Lebanon, (and) the Arab world, discussed the attempts by the USA and the NATO bloc to destabilise the situation in the Middle East," Raad was quoted as saying. Hezbollah is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington, with numerous other Western countries taking the same view, but Russia does not consider it to be an extremist group.