The European Union is using all types of pretexts to avoid pooling efforts with Russia against a common enemy of international terrorism, Tass news agency quoted Russia’s Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov as saying on Monday.

"One would think that nothing may hinder the European Union, which is not a military bloc and is not directly involved in combat operations in that country [in Syria], to pool efforts with Russia to rebuff terrorism. The more so as people living in Brussels, like in many other European cities, have felt the lethal breath of misanthropic ideology of Daesh and the like," Chizhov said at the European Russian Forum at the European Parliament.

"But as a matter of fact, we keep on encountering irrational behavior when the European Union is using various pretexts to dodge pooling efforts against the common enemy," he said.

"Suffice it to recall the demonstrative refusal of a number of the European Union member states to provide assistance to our navy squadron in the Mediterranean," he noted.

"Let alone, on-going aweless attempts taken by certain representatives of the EU political establishments to put a sign of equality between Russia’s actions and Islamic State (Daesh) gunmen’s outrage. There is no explanation to such actions other than trying to prevent rapprochement between our country and EU member states at any cost for the sake of minute-serving political ambitions."

Source: MENA