Matviyenko calls for joint fight against IS 'without bypass maneuvers'
MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) - Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has said that ISIS can only be fought in a joint, coordinated and consistent effort, "without bypass maneuvers in a bid to secure unilateral advantages for oneself."
"Our country proposes a concrete and real plan of action on the basis of the principles of international law, a Security Council resolution. Russia proposes that the Security Council should hold a special ministerial session for comprehensive analysis of the situation in the Middle East and to agree on the relevant resolution," she wrote on her blog on the website of the Federation Council.
In the course of implementation of the initiative, it will become clear "who really wants to join efforts to do away with ISIS, and who is still intent on using this force to destabilize the Middle East, remove inconvenient regimes, and continue 'catching fish in muddy waters'," Matviyenko said.
One way or another, there are some prospects for further progress in countering ISIS, she said. "As the Russian president said after his meeting with U.S. President B. Obama, both parties share the understanding that this work needs be stepped up at least on the bilateral basis. On the agenda is contemplation of possibilities for creating relevant mechanisms," the speaker said.
"The Russian head of state's initiative to create a broad international coalition to fight ISIS, terrorism as a whole could not be more timely," Matviyenko said.
Islamic State is the result of so-called "democratic revolutions" which led to bloodshed, claimed tens of thousands of lives, millions of refugees, devastation and destruction of cultural monuments, she said.
"And here Vladimir Vladimirovich's question is very appropriate: do you realize what you've done?" They probably do. But they have neither the courage, nor the nerve to admit their guilt," the speaker said.