STRASBOURG (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — Russia's decision to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic States militant group in Syria shows that Moscow shares the Western states' goal of bringing down the terrorists, a diplomatic point which could promote the resolution of other international issues, a PACE-affiliated Austrian lawmaker told Sputnik on Thursday.
"When we have a common aim to bring peace to the region, and to stop the Islamic terrorism, and to save the oldest capital of the world — Damascus, it is good, and it can help with other questions," Stefan Schennach, PACE monitoring committee head, said.
Schennach added that the West "needs Russia to bring down the Daesh [Arabic for IS] " and stressed the importance of avoiding civilian casualties in the region.
Thursday media reports indicated that Brussels and Washington disagreed on who will participate in the talks, with Washington saying that Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey should be part of negotiations, excluding European powers.
"This is not possible because most European countries are now working hard with the situation of the refugees coming from the Middle East, and we have to be a part [of the talks on Syrian reconciliation], we have historic relations with the area," Stefan Schennach said.
Schennach claimed that Europe was doing all the hard work by hosting refugees. Regional powers like Turkey and Saudi Arabia should also sit at the negotiating table, he added.
According to media reports, France wants the talks to be held in the familiar P5+1 format of the Iran nuclear talks (Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China and Germany) plus Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
