The West’s sanctions policy against Russia destroys the previous joint counter-terrorism formats and plays into the hands of terrorists, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council upper house of parliament Ilyas Umakhanov said at the international conference 'Religions Against Terrorism'.
Umakhanov said that Russia "is not by hearsay familiar with the danger posed by terrorism."
"Russia was the first to experience a massive attack of international terrorism. We remember how militants seized hospitals and schools in our country, bombed houses, railway stations, airports, trains and planes, killing women, children, the elderly, religious leaders and preachers. We have taken up the challenge," Umakhanov said.
He stressed that "the country acts firmly and consistently in the fight against terrorism," and, "if necessary, uses force both in its territory and in the seat of terrorists, as it is now happening in Syria."
At the same time, the Federation Council deputy speaker said that Russia "realizes the need of uniting efforts of all the healthy forces of the world community." Umakhanov said in this regard that Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the creation of a united anti-terrorist front in strict compliance with the international law principles and under the UN auspices.
"But so far terrorists have been able to easier and faster than politicians find a common language and actually implement the terrorist international. We are really concerned over the fact that in recent years some of our partners under the pretext of anti-Russian sanctions, not only do not support our initiatives, but destroy the previous formats of joint combating terrorism," TASS cited Umakhanov as saying.
In particular, he expressed regret that "the parliamentary anti-terrorist forums with the participation of delegations of the European Parliament, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are now over."
"A few days ago, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko at a meeting of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly put forward an initiative to hold such a forum in St. Petersburg next spring. We expect a positive response to this proposal from our partners", Umakhanov reminds.
