The chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev, said that the new year will be "a test for the international community in making agreements," which it will have to prove in the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
"I would describe the foreign policy results of the year as moderately optimistic. We started with the birth of a new organization – the Eurasian Economic Union – and it is the great achievement of the year. Also there was an agreement between Iran and the 5+1. Let's not forget that we also avoided a 'big war' in the South-East of Ukraine because of the Minsk Agreements. But there were also tragedies, Kosachev reminded, referring to the destruction of the Russian Su-24 bomber and the attack on the Kogalymavia plane.
According to him, now the mood of the European countries towards Russia is changing. "More and more people understand the senselessness of sanctions," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
![Konstantin Kosachev: "It's not the cruelty of the punishment for terrorists that is important, but its irreversibility"](https://en.vestikavkaza.ru/no-image.webp "Konstantin Kosachev: "It's not the cruelty of the punishment for terrorists that is important, but its irreversibility"")
