Saudi Arabia has dismissed several thousand imams from mosques for “spreading extremism”, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Russian journalists in Moscow on Sunday, a media report said.

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

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

The Saudi FM said Riyadh would cooperate with Moscow in the fight against terrorism, and many militants from both countries were fighting with Daesh, the report added.

“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 was quoted as saying.

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