Intl community would be able to cooperate with Damascus to fight Islamic State - Churkin
NEW YORK. Sept 2 (Interfax) - The international community actively cooperated with Syrian authorities in resolving the problem of chemical weapons and now it would be able to do the same regarding the struggle against the Islamic State terrorist organization, Russian Permanent Representative at the UN Vitaly Churkin said.
"In the situation with chemical weapons all of us decided that the priority is to get rid of these weapons. And everybody was cooperating with pleasure on this issue with Syrian authorities. What about doing the same regarding the struggle against Islamic State?" he told a news conference in the UN on Wednesday.
Churkin said that the parties to the Syrian conflict could quite probably work out an idea regarding how to settle the disagreements existing between them during the joint struggle against Islamic State.
Asked whether, for instance, the United States would agree on Russia's participation in the international coalition for the fight against IS in Syria, Churkin said that Moscow regards the principles on which this coalition is based as incorrect.
"I believe that if we decide to join the coalition on its conditions, it [the U.S.] would admit us with pleasure there. But the problem is that we will not join the coalition which acts without taking into account the UN Security Council's decisions and without the permission of the UN Security Council. They are bombing the territory of Syria without any consent from Syrian authorities and having no permission from the UN Security Council," he said.
