MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. Western MPs will heed the State Duma’s appeal for pooling efforts in order to set up an international antiterrorist coalition, Dr. Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of Duma committee for foreign policy said on Monday.
Earlier on the same day, the committee submitted a draft statement on importance of an urgent international antiterrorist coalition.
"I think this appeal will certainly be heeded in Europe because discontent over the U.S. refusal to act together with Russia is smoldering in many countries there," Dr. Pushkov told TASS in a comment on the statement. "I think France will respond to it because it’s turned into the first and the main victim of the terrorists."
He voiced the confidence that the MPs in many countries and particularly in Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Spain would respond, too.
"We hope this will exert an encouraging influence on the political and psychological atmosphere in the European political quarters," Dr. Pushkov said, adding the Russian deputies did not set a goal for themselves to get immediate reciprocal appeals from Western counterparts.
"We expect the events, facts and arguments cited by Russia - and we’ve been saying for quite some time the main threat, the terrorist threat, is coming from the Middle East - as well as the recognition of validity of these arguments and our statement will eventually bring about changes in political mentality in the European countries and this will help pave the way to the agreements that are so much needed for joint struggle with the Islamic State," Dr. Pushkov said.
"We expect psychological and political shifts," he indicated.
The draft statement says the deputies urge the fellow-MPs in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and other regions of the world to do everything in their power for setting up an international antiterrorist coalition.
The Russian deputies say they share the feelings of grief with the people of France in the wake of last Friday’s attacks by IS terrorists in Paris, which they called "unprecedented in terms of scale and ruthlessness."
The deputies say the terrorist act in Paris had been preceded by terrorist acts in the Middle East and North Africa.
"Hundreds have died or have been wounded over a single month alone in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Turkey," the document said. "Blood and violence spilt on the streets of Paris and Beirut. These facts cause genuine indignation and call for actions aimed at curbing terrorism.".