MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - Russia has information that officials of the UK intelligence service, known as MI6, held a meeting with members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (banned in Russia), which is active in Syria's Idlib, a diplomatic source in Moscow said on Monday.
"The information available indicates that special services of Western countries have been getting in touch with international terrorist groups active in Syria not only indirectly, but also directly. For instance, it has become known that a meeting recently took place in the Idlib de-escalation area near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border between the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham international terrorist alliance and the leader of the infamous Jabhat al-Nusra [also banned in Russia], Abu Mohammad al-Julani, and representatives of the UK intelligence service MI6 and the UK's former special envoy for Libya Jonathan Powell," the source said.
"This event is particularly cynical because its main topic was the possibility of removing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from the lists of terrorist organizations," he said.
"To this end, the UK side suggested that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham pledge to discontinue its subversive activities against Western countries and to develop close cooperation with them. Al-Julani received a recommendation to give an interview to one of American magazines to create a positive image of his terrorist alliance in order to secure its subsequent rehabilitation. A number of UK allies, first and foremost the U.S., are expected to be invited to join the process of Jabhat al-Nusra's rebranding," the source said.
Furthermore, "an agreement was reached to maintain a constant channel of communication with international terrorists designated as such by the UN Security Council," he said.