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In a Russia Today TV interview, Aleppo-born Ziyad Sabsabi, a Russian senator and deputy chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, said that Russia "draws the line at dealing with either of the two terrorist organizations: Jabhat Al-Nusra and ISIS. Apart from that, the door is open to dialogue and cooperation." In the Arabic-language interview, which aired on August 2, Sabsabi further said that Russian intervention in Syria was essential for Russian national security, given threats to wage Jihad on Russian land, especially the North Caucasus.
Ziyad Sabsabi: "In Syria, it is not war between the Syrian government and the people. It is a conflict between regional powers or countries that wish to use the Syrian scene to settle some accounts, I'm sad to say. The Russian intervention was essential, in order to preserve the national security of the Russian Federation. The terrorist organizations concealed nothing. They have declared openly that the next step in their war - what they call their 'Jihad' - would involve entering Russian land, and especially the North Caucasus.
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"The international community and especially Europe, has suffered terrorist attacks in Belgium, in France and in Germany. Hasn't the time come for them to say 'enough' to terrorism? Hasn't the time come for them to say 'enough' to the pressure suffered by the Syrian people - the shelling, the killing and the slaughtering? In my view, the Russian position has proven to be correct and rational. It has proven to be principled position, far removed from the strategic interests in the Middle East, and from the balance of power between East and West, between the US and Europe, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other.
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"In Russia, we are in touch with everybody. We try to be in touch with everybody. Russia draws the line at dealing with either of the two terrorist organizations: Jabhat Al-Nusra and ISIS. Apart from that, the door is open to dialogue and cooperation.
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"The war in terror cannot end with a military victory. Therefore, we say that there must be political dialogue, and rehabilitation of the liberated areas of the disaster zones."
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