Konstantin Kosachev: Russia has no need for ground operation in Syria

Air strikes alone are not enough for the complete and final victory over terrorism in Syria, this requires a ground operation, but it should not be carried out by Russia, the representative of the executive body of the Republic of Mari El, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, stated in the studio of Vestnik Kavkaza.

"I'm no expert, but I have talked with many experts on this subject, and I have not seen a single expert who would say that we can solve the problems of this operation only from the air. It is obvious that without ground forces, without their actions directly against terrorists, as they say, physical contact, no tasks of this operation can be solved," he said.

"I think that there will be a fairly large number of states which will believe that it is possible for them to participate in a ground operation. And this, by the way, not only and not so much the United States or France. This is, first of all, the border states, where these terrorists always come from, where they physically interfere and create not just a threat to the security of people, but violate economic development, create a certain reputation for the region as a whole. Let's call a spade a spade," the senator added.

"Currently Egypt is among the victims. It is known that the Egyptian authorities, until recently, denied the version of an act of terrorism against the 'Kogalymavia' airliner over Sinai in order to save their reputation, but they are seriously affected by the fact that international terrorism is entrenched in close proximity to Egypt, which, ultimately, deters tourists, which is the main source of income for the country. I have a feeling that Egypt could take part in a ground operation, because it is in its own national interests: to stop this threat and return to the number of states that are not associated with instability, rioting and especially the terrorist threat as soon as possible. The region has more than enough such countries, and I would welcome if they started to develop their own coalition of those who are involved in ground operations," the parliamentarian said.

"I do not see such a necessity for Russia. We strongly operate from the air, we are able to support this ground operation even more effectively if it is required, and, in my opinion, this is more than enough, because if we appeared there on the ground, for us it would be more difficult get out of there than it is for many other countries, which only need to take their troops across the border – and seemingly end the operation," Konstantin Kosachev stressed.