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No logic in US senators’ idea to label Russia as sponsor of terrorism — lawmaker

Currently the US Department of State’s list of sponsors of terrorism includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan
Chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS
Chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev
© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The Chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev has pointed to the absence of any logic in US Congress members’ actions to initiate a bill on designating Russia as a "sponsor of terrorism." This way, Washington provides fertile ground for all countries worldwide to ponder over who is the true sponsor of global terrorism, he remarked.

"When it begins to shift the blame on to others, Washington provides ground for all other countries in the world to give thought to who are the real sponsors of terrorism in the world. I have a feeling that on top of this list will be not those who help Syria do away with the Islamic State [terrorist organization outlawed in Russia]," Kosachev said on his Facebook page.

He added that the logic behind the arguments in favor of this initiative was "stunning."

"The author of the bill argues that Russia supports what he describes as ‘Bashar al-Assad’s bloody regime.’ In other words, alignment with the legitimate authorities of Syria, which became the main target of the strongest terrorist attacks of the current decade, and the joint defeat of the Islamic State are tantamount to ‘sponsorship of terrorism’ in the Americans’ eyes," Kosachev went on.

The upside-down world where US politicians exist emerged a long time ago, he writes.

"The information background that the US establishment and ostensibly ‘independent’ media create themselves forms an alternative reality in which victims of terrorism are suddenly labeled terrorists," Kosachev claimed.

He recalled the Kosovo Liberation Army, which at a certain point was included in the lists of terrorist organizations prosecuted in the United States. However, by the moment of NATO’s war in the Balkans it disappeared from the lists of terrorists. "It was removed from the lists of the previous years retrospectively in an Orwellian way," Kosachev said.

Also, the Russian senator recalled "Washington’s overt arms supplies to terrorists in Syria." In his opinion this should be "judged properly."

On Wednesday, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress endorsed a bill obliging the US Secretary of State to consider the question of whether Russia should be designated as a sponsor of terrorism. The committee’s spokeswoman Suzanne Wrasse told TASS after the voting in the committee that the bill would be reviewed by the US Senate. Currently the US Department of State’s list of sponsors of terrorism includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan. Other countries and foreigners may face US sanctions if concluding trade contracts with the states on this black list.