LONDON, March 2. /TASS/. The UK authorities should not condemn Russia for its actions in Syria without the relevant evidence, according to the report by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK’s House of Commons titled "The United Kingdom’s relations with Russia."
According to the report, "Unevidenced rhetoric from both sides also makes it difficult to implement the practical co-operation measures necessary to deliver lasting peace in Syria."
"The Government is right to call out the Russian military for actions that potentially violate International Humanitarian Law. However, if the Government continues to allege that Russia has committed war crimes in Syria without providing a basis for its charge, it risks bolstering the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is held to unfair double standards by hostile and hypocritical western powers," the report said.
However, according to the report, "Russia and the United Kingdom have a shared interest in combatting Islamist terrorism and extremism. It is difficult to envisage how to progress this shared interest considering the differences between the two countries’ respective definitions and analyses of terrorism, and acceptable methods to defeat it. Any dialogue with Russia must be handled with the greatest care, but it is at least worth exploring."