WASHINGTON, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has a critical role in finding a resolution to the current outbreak of fighting against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, peacekeeping expert and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Hardin Lang told RIA Novosti Friday.
"It's hard to see how the situation in Syria resolves without Russia playing a constructive role," Lang said.
Lang continued that Russia and the United States have shared interests in defeating IS, but stressed that finding that common interest will be a challenge under present tensions between the nations.
"The situation in Ukraine and elsewhere has created such a difficult environment to have a conversation about good, practical outcomes right now in Iraq and Syria, that it's going to take a huge diplomatic effort to create insulation around this issue. [Finding] a way to have an intelligent conversation with the emotion taken out of the room is critical," the expert added.
Lang, who has over a decade of experience working at the United Nations, strongly proposed that the United States dedicate some significant effort to working the situation through the organization.
"If we, over time, are going to build a regional or international coalition to get this done, we're going to have to spend a fair amount of time at the United Nations and elsewhere working to build the kind of political support that will allow us to win this over time," he said.
Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama stated in his foreign policy address that he would not hesitate to strike IS targets in Syria. Moscow has questioned of the legitimacy of such actions with Russian Foreign Ministry arguing that carrying out airstrikes without a UN Security Council decision would be a crude violation of international law.
