Russian diplomat: EU's Syria policy getting less militant
MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Interfax) - Russia's permanent envoy to the European Union claimed on Thursday that EU leaders had become less persistent in seeking military action against the Syrian government.
"In the last day or two there have been traces of caution in the statements of European leaders. One reason for this is that public opinion in Western European countries is by no means inclined to indiscriminately support allegations about the Syrian government being guilty or support military action against Syria," Vladimir Chizhov said during a program on Russia's Rossiya 24 television channel.
"Moreover, all express opinion polls that become public knowledge suggest that the majority of Europeans are skeptical or, more than that, negative, about this whole enterprise," he said.
"One just has to call on the Western countries, their leaders - using their own phraseology and rephrasing their appeals to Russia to take the right side of history - to take the right side of international law and avoid the temptation of trying to take control of international law," Chizhov said.
The financial aspect of potential military strikes is one more reason for the EU's allegedly dampened enthusiasm for armed action, he argued. "I think this is one of the deterring factors that will, of course, affect the final positions of various European governments," he said.
