Russia, West Should Focus on Defeating ISIL, Ukraine Can Wait

Russia and the West should forget about the Ukrainian crisis for a bit to deal with a more important issue on the agenda – the fight against Islamic extremism spreading across the Middle East and North Africa, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.

The current fight against ISIL is similar to the times during World War II, when Russia and the Allies worked together to defeat Nazism in Germany. Just like in World War II, the West alone isn't doing particularly well against the enemy and needs the help of Russia, the newspaper said.

The issue of Ukraine has to be put aside to deal with a much more important problem that ISIL currently presents.

"Both historically and from a geopolitical point of view there is no reason why the West and Russia couldn't be allies in the fight against Islamic fanatics in the name of defending the Christian community in the Middle East," Le Figaro reported.

On Tuesday, the US government criticized the Russian policies in Syria.

"Russia needs to smarten up," President Barack Obama commented on Moscow's endeavors in Syria.

The French media wasn't happy about the mocking attempt and suggested that instead of trying to make fun of the Russian policies, the United States should help Moscow to solve the Syrian crisis and fight against Islamic fundamentalists together.