 We also have with us from Moscow, Professor Vitaly Nomkin, who is the president of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, senior political advisor to the SRSG on Syria, and a professor at Moscow State University. Russia is a player in the region, as we know. I give you the floor, sir, if you could give us your point of view. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. It's a great honor and privilege for me to be with you and to speak to this distinguished audience. So I'm speaking about Russia's role in the Middle East in the realm of the external powers present there. We can see that during the last years the Middle East came back to Russia's priorities in Russia's foreign policy. Why? Because first Russia started to establish itself as one of the most important key players in the world, global players in the region of the Middle East as well. Then the fact that Russia's ties with the Middle East are historic. They are based on the legacy of very deep cooperation and link between the peoples of the Middle East and the Russian people. And before we compare what is happening now in the realm of the Russia's presence and relations with the Middle East in the States, for instance, with the 90s when Russia almost disappeared from the scene of this region, it's a bit different. But I cannot say that some people would say that Russia returned to the Middle East. We can say that Russia successfully upgraded its presence or its influence in the Middle East. And started from 2015, we can see the new phase of Russia's relations with the Middle East. We can say that it's proactive. It started with the presence of the Russia's air forces and their operation in Syria. And speaking about the goals of Russia's presence, we can see that it's mostly the same interest as what my colleagues said about the other external powers. I can say that its cooperation between Russia and the Middle East economically, politically, even militarily given that, for instance, Russia needs some moderate facilities for serving its fleet in the Mediterranean. That's why Russia's base is in Syria, fulfilling this goal. But it's a secondary goal. The first goal, of course, is the interest of stability in the Middle East, in this region, because it's very close to the borders of Russia's partners in Central Asia and the focuses. And we can see also that non-Arab states started, as they probably, the most important partners of Russia in the beginning of this phase. And then other states entered the group of the most close partners of Russia. If we speak about Turkey, for instance, as one of the non-Arab partners, it's the most amazing, the most important economic projects like nuclear power station, plant or the Turkish stream gas pipeline. Even if we take the volume of tourism, just before the pandemic in 2019, the numbers of tourists from Russia to Turkey exceeded 7 million. And there are a lot of other things as well, especially turning Turkey into the gas hub for exporting Russia's gas to Europe. We can see that deterring the different routes coming from this region, unfortunately, especially terrorism and religious extremism, it's also one of the goals of Russia. And we can say that a relative harm in Syria, regardless of what the others think about that, is also the result of Russia's relative success in deterring this threat and reading this country from Dutch. We can see some other important links between Russia and the region. I think that it is good also to Russia's ability to adjust to the growing role of regional processes and dynamics, especially its readiness to play with regional powers as an entity. We can see that it is built upon Russia's practice of reaching out to multiple partners and built on a non-ideological approach and pragmatism. We can see that Russia is trying to build relationships with all players, with different partners and states, for instance, Iran and Israel, on an equal basis. And that's Russia is capable of playing the role of media in all regional countries, as we can see. At the same time, our approach is very interesting. We have no colonial legacy which is helping us in this relationship. Russia is not seeking to compete some global powers, especially the United States. It has no desire to compete the United States, but Russia has its own place. I can see that after what happened in Afghanistan, there might be some new role of Russia, because I'm not speaking using expressions like the United States defined or something like that. No, but it's a new state. And there is some loss of trust towards the United States, as we all know. Russia is not going to capitalise on this, but at the same time, we can see some readiness from the regional partners to work more closely with Russia. I can see that it's quite possible. And even during the days of the pandemic, because the Russian medicines are working well and used in this region, I can especially mention the so-called new partners of Russia, new friends, especially the Gulf states. So for instance, Egypt is an old partner and an old friend, the same about Syria and Iraq, but Israel is a new partner and friend. Iran is the same and the Gulf states are also the same. One example of how Russia is trying to reach out with different partners or different players, even those who are not quite friendly to Russia is our dialogue with Taliban. Our team leaders have been meeting the Taliban leaders during seven years, seven years. They were coming to Moscow, so we were chatting with our team. Despite the fact that the Taliban are on the list and the terrorist organization are still there and nobody is going now to take them out of this place, we will see what's going to happen. So it means that we are trying to build relationships with all because we need the peace, we need stability, we need some presence who are serving our interests. I can see also that given our relationships with other outside powers, yes, we have very difficult and complicated relationships with the West in general and especially with the United States. But still we have some limited cooperation when it's necessary. For instance, Russia played a significant role in the JCPOA process being a part of 5.1, the same about many resolutions of Security Council that were passed during last years, some cooperation with the United States in exchanging information about terrorists. And Russia's results regarding the establishment of regional or new regional security system, inclusive system, which enjoys support from some partners, not all of them, but some partners who are thinking seriously about that. I can say also that some regional conflicts that are almost neglected now by many global and regional parties like Palestinian and Israeli conflict is in the center of the attention of the Russian diplomacy because Russia believes that without this solution from the Palestinian problem, no peace can be achieved in the Middle East. Coming back to the recent developments of Russia's relations with the Middle East partners, I can name oil and gas cooperation with a space like Saudi Arabia, deep cooperation in the oil market. Our very good relationship with the United Arab Emirates is reliable and very reliable and very good partner for Russia in many fields. And I think that I can stop here and I'm ready to answer your questions. Thank you for your attention. Thank you, Professor.