MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. The US-led coalition only imitates the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
"Our assessments remain the same, they are unpromising. The coalition imitates the fight against IS acting on the basis of its politicized approach to the situation in Syria that runs counter to international law. And now we see that this is done not only in this country," the diplomat said.
"It is known that ineffectiveness of coalition’s actions were distinctly confirmed by the deteriorating problem of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - the former name of IS)," Zakharova said. There have been no reports over the last year "that American pilots spotted convoys of fuel tankers with smuggled oil that feeds ISIL forces among other things," she added. "It is possible that they have spotted them but they did not share this with us publicly, and they for sure did not do anything about it, to curb the flow somehow," she noted.
"It is obvious now that coalition members in some cases say that they are acting on behalf of the coalition, and in other cases, most likely when it benefits them, that they are acting independently. In this respect, there is much room for using double standards. "It is almost impossible to understand when countries are operating as members of the coalition and when they are acting independently," the diplomat added noting that "it would be good to familiarize the world with their concept of what the coalition is doing in the region."
"It is very important that France, Great Britain and Germany, after difficult internal discussions about using military force against ISIL, are able to make a real contribution to the fight against this terrorist group," she continued. "What needs to be done for this? In our opinion, firm reliance on international law is necessary for that, as well as readiness to coordinate actions with Russia which strictly observes the norms of international law and, of course, (coordinates its actions) with legitimate authorities of Syria and Iraq."
"Russia offered to its Western partners to share information about ISIL facilities. Their answers were evasive, to put it mildly," Zakharova said. "In such conditions, it is very difficult to talk about the effectiveness of the US-led coalition’s actions, even despite the involvement of several European countries," she concluded.