MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. The Federation Council (upper house) has adopted a statement, at its plenary session on Wednesday, on the need to join forces with the international community in countering terrorism. The document reports that the senators noted the destructive policy of Western countries that actually support the use of force and terrorist methods against sovereign states.
"Recently, there is a dangerous trend of the use of force and terrorist methods against sovereign states. This aggressive policy supported by the collective West has led to genuine attempts by Ukrainian forces to incite and commit hostile actions on Russian soil, namely in the Republic of Crimea and a number of other subjects of the Russian Federation, and to organize energy and water blockades of the Crimean peninsula. Instead of strict compliance with the Minsk agreements, Ukraine actually favored the language of brute force as its main tool of "dialogue" with the residents of Donbass," the statement says.
The senators stressed that "this sort of policy pursued by Western countries is destructive". Only the actions of states based on international law can be effective to counter terrorism. As an example, legislators point to the situation in Syria that took place several years ago. "Thanks to Russian assistance provided to this state in accordance with existing international obligations, most of Syria’s territory has been liberated from terrorists," the document says.
The statement also noted that the creation of a united front of countering terrorism was disrupted due to the unilateral actions of Western states, which instead of fighting terrorism, supported anti-government forces in a number of states in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
"Disregard for international law and flagrant interference by the US and its allies in the domestic affairs of independent nations has created conditions for the sharp rise in terrorist activities throughout the world. The US and their allies’ unilateral actions turned out to be catastrophic for Afghanistan. In nearly 20 years of its military presence in this country, the United States has been unable to solve a single problem of the country under their control. Meanwhile, during military operations, the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan exceeded the number of victims of terrorism, and the output of heroin production multiplied in magnitude," the senators point out.