UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Russia has submitted a renewed draft UN Security Council resolution on the coordination of efforts in the fight against terrorism, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told journalists.
"Of course, the reason for that is that we needed to take into account the latest tragic events in Paris, Sinai," Churkin said on Wednesday, adding that "all members of the international community [need] to work together in particular on the issue of finding and bringing to justice the terrorists who commit those horrendous attacks."
The draft includes provisions on coordinated efforts and joint work on punishing those responsible for terrorist attacks.
It is a renewed version of the draft resolution that Russia submitted to the UN Security Council on September 30. The document called for global counter-terrorism action based on the principles of international law, stressing that any anti-terrorism operation on the territory of a foreign state, such as Syria, must be conducted with the permission of the state’s authorities.
On October 31, Russian A321 passenger jet crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 on board. Russian investigators concluded this week that the plane crashed as a result of terrorist activity.
Churkin said on Wednesday that Russia’s new draft singles out the threat posed by Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.
According to Churkin, Russia and France have agreed to cooperate in anti-terrorism efforts within the framework of the UN Security Council, although France has not presented any relevant draft resolutions yet.
"We have done our best to change our draft in such a way, so as to take into account the interests of our French colleagues, but decided that it was inexpedient to wait, or work out some kind of a new text," Churkin said.
Francois Delattre, France’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said on Wednesday that France was ready to study the Russian draft resolution in detail, but was also preparing its own text.
Churkin stressed that Russia is "calling for cooperation, closer cooperation than we currently have now, with those who are fighting terrorists in Syria and Iraq."
He added that Russia will take into account any relevant proposals that France, or other UN Security Council members, might put forward in the future.
