The Russian foreign minister has urged a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Qatar to end a bitter diplomatic dispute that has raised tensions on the Arabian Peninsula. Sergei Lavrov on September 10 told his Saudi counterpart that “we have confirmed our position in favor of settling the disagreements via negotiations.” Lavrov’s comments to Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir during a meeting at the Saudi port city of Jeddah were released in a transcript provided by the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to the transcript, Lavrov praised the efforts of Kuwait to mediate the dispute. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have broken all diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar, accusing it of financing regional terrorism and of having too close ties to the Arab states’ bitter rival, Iran. Qatar has denied the accusations and has rejected a list of 13 demands set […]