MOSCOW: Saudi Arabia has dismissed several thousand imams from mosques for spreading extremism, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Russian journalists in Moscow on Sunday.

“We will not let anyone spread the ideology of hatred, to finance that kind of ideology or terrorism,” he said.

“Our approach to this problem has been very strict: We … modernize our educational system in order to rule out the possibility of misinterpretation of texts.”

Al-Jubeir said Riyadh would cooperate with Moscow in the fight against terrorism, and many militants from both countries were fighting with Daesh.

“They pose a threat to our countries and to other states, where they come from. So we have a strong interest in cooperation.”

The foreign minister also accused Qatar of financing terrorism in an attempt to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries.

“We are convinced that there are certain principles that all countries must stick to: Say ‘no’ to terrorism, the financing of terrorism, extremism and propaganda of hatred, and attempts to interfere in the domestic affairs of other states,” he said.

“We expect those demands to be met by Qatar.”