Russian President Vladimir Putin made the following comments at a plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

Russia and China have announced to form a united front to protect Iran. CNN's report says that a strong message has been sent to Donald Trump. CNN has said in its report that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have appealed to the President to avoid the US's entry into the Israel-Iran war.

“If the Middle East is unstable, the world will not be at peace,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday. “If the conflict escalates further, not only will the conflicting parties suffer greater losses, but regional countries will also suffer greatly.”