Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says foreign interference in the Middle East and North Africa has brought about heightened violence committed by terrorist groups operating in the region, Press TV reported.
Lavrov made the remarks at a speech to the 38th session of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) General Conference in the French capital city of Paris on Friday.
Lavrov expressed concerns about "the link of terrorism and extremism and violence in the Middle East and northern Africa", where the Daesh Takfiri terrorists along with other militants are "massively killing civilizations," stressing that their acts are in violation of all religions.
Violence by terrorist elements "has been the result of undermined and destroyed state institutes in this region due to external forces' imposition of foreign values on these cultures," he added.
The top Russian diplomat further called on UNESCO to dispatch its own missions to conflict-hit zones in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq to evaluate the scale of the damage inflicted by terrorists on historic sites there.
"When barbarians are rooted out from areas where we are protecting cultural heritage, UNESCO will need to send its own missions there to assess the damage and to establish plans to rebuild cultural heritage sites," Lavrov said.