Year 2016 to Test International Community's Ability to Negotiate - Lawmaker

Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian upper house's international committee, said that the year 2016 will become the first negotiability test for the international community.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The year 2016 will put to the test the ability of the international community to reach a consensus in resolving conflicts, including those in the Middle East and Ukraine, the head of the Russian upper house's international committee, Konstantin Kosachev, said Friday.

The situation in Syria and the Middle East still remains volatile, according to Kosachev, "that's why the success depends not on unilateral, though resolute, actions, but on the global community's ability to negotiate. The year 2016 will become the first negotiability test for the international community," Kosachev told RIA Novosti.

He underscored that in Europe the mood toward Russia and cooperation with it was changing.

"The understanding of the pointlessness of sanctions and absence of other alternative but to cooperate with Russia on Syria, Ukraine, concerning economy and security issues gains more supporters in the European Union," Kosachev said.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West, including the United States and the European Union, deteriorated over Crimea's reunification with Russia and Moscow's alleged involvement into the escalation of the crisis in southeastern Ukraine. The West imposed several rounds of sanctions targeting Russia's energy, banking and defense sectors.

Moscow has denied it has played any role in the Ukrainian crisis and called sanctions counterproductive.