"I belong to the defense committee, I believe that Europe, before the Russian intervention, has been too lightly engaged in Syria. The West should be more involved militarily in Syria cooperating with Russia," Lamblin said.
The French lawmaker, who is currently on a visit in Moscow along with his colleagues, noted a positive role Russia played in Syria, especially in the joint fight with the Syrian army against the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) jihadist group, outlawed in Russia.
"Russia was right to support the Syrian government and the Syrian Army in this fight… IS had been enlarging and expanding its influence, but after Russia got involved in Syria, Islamic State started to lose ground," Lamblin said.
"Today our relations aren't good, they aren't what they should be… Given our close cultural ties and for the sake of civilization, we should develop them," Lamblin said.
A French delegation headed by Thierry Mariani, a member of The Republicans party, arrived in Moscow earlier in the day. The lawmakers held a meeting with Russian lower house speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and are expected to partake in talks at the Russian Foreign Ministry, as well as the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, on Friday.
Political dialogue between France and Russia deteriorated after the eruption of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, which provoked the introduction of political and economic sanctions against Russia by the European Union and the United States, as well as Moscow's reciprocal restrictive measures on some food products imported from those states.
