MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. The European Parliament’s resolutions on Syria are detached from reality and do not contribute to efforts aimed at defusing the crisis in that country, Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) International Affairs Committee, said on Wednesday during a TV linkup titled "Syria’s Peaceful Future: A View from Moscow and Brussels."
The senator noted that he looked through the European Parliament’s resolutions on Syria ahead of the TV linkup, adding that "there were about a dozen of them." When I looked at the contents, I had a strong impression that the European Parliament exists in some isolated world where the situation in other regions of the globe, in this case, in Syria, is seen superficially and is politicized," Kosachev said. In his view, "none of these resolutions had any added value in terms of facilitating the political process in Syria as well as countering the threat of terrorism." "The European Parliament’s resolutions existed on their own, while the situation in Syria was evolving in accordance with its own scenarios," he added.
To remedy the situation, he suggested "using the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee hitherto frozen" for "reconnecting the world the European Parliament exists in with the realities of everyday and in many ways tragic life in Syria." Kosachev said it would be appropriate to form a joint group for a visit to Syria with the help of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, adding that it could include "the authors of the controversial resolutions on Syria". According to the Russian senator, it will be useful for them to see with their own eyes the real state of affairs in that country.
On February 15, Federation Council speaker, Valentina Matviyenko, announced plans to hold regular TV linkups covering the topic of settling the Syrian crisis. The first linkup timed for the second round of the intra-Syrian consultations in Kazakhstan’s capital connected Moscow, Astana and Damascus on February 16.