MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Anti-Terrorism and Russian State Duma deputy Nikolai Kovalyov has warned against substituting of the term 'terrorism' by anything like 'political violent extremism' in international documents.
"It's an intriguing trend. They are trying as hard as they can to introduce us to the term which goes like this: 'violent political extremism'. There is a very fine line between terrorism and violent extremism. This is exactly the term that is being promoted in all the lines, all the documents," Kovalyov told reporters on Monday.
The adoption of this term is attributed to the fact that if a certain organization is not labeled as terrorist, then it means that contacts with the organization are not prohibited and that financing and supporting it can be done legally, he said.
"We get the feeling that quite many politicians are still hoping that certain terrorist organizations will help them realize strategic plans and particularly those of overthrowing undesired regimes and bringing those people into power that best suit them. But in the reality we understand very well how futile these attempts are: any terrorist organization, however well supported and financed, sooner or later will get out of control [pulling away from] of the masters and deal a serious blow," he said.
Everyone saw how the U.S. supported Al Qaeda and Bin Laden back then. Similar processes also took place in some other countries too, Kovalyov said.