Russia to promote single strategy to counter Daesh under UN auspices

Russia will promote the creation of a single strategy to counter Daesh militants in the Middle East and North Africa under the auspices of the UN Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, Sputnik reported.

"We shall continue promoting our suggestions to conduct in the United Nations under the auspices of the Security Council a collective analysis of terrorism and extremism in the Middle East and North Africa, and then work out a single approach, a single strategy, which would serve as a ‘guiding star’ in our future actions," Lavrov said at a press conference.

Unfortunately, there is currently no united strategy, Lavrov said.

Double standards in fighting extremism are not acceptable, the top Russian diplomat stressed, adding that actions of extremists are often ignored for political gain.

When asked to comment on US plans to send extra troops to Iraq, Lavrov stated that the defense capabilities of the entire country, and not merely a few parts of it, must be strengthened. Lavrov added that the whole country must be freed of terrorism, thus an internal dialogue is particularly important.

Daesh has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq in the last year, declared a caliphate on its seized territories and committed many human rights atrocities in both countries.

The US-led international coalition has been launching airstrikes against militant positions in both countries since 2014.

On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama approved sending up to 450 military personnel to train local Iraqi forces.

As many as 3,000 US servicemen are currently in the country.