Putin agreed with French President Francois Hollande on Thursday at the Kremlin to target Isis and similar jihadi groups in Syria.
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“Our enemy is Daesh, the Islamic State, it has territory and an army and resources, so we must create this large coalition to hit these terrorists”, Hollande said in a televised speech prior to his meeting with Putin, according to Reuters.
On Friday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would end its visa-free regime with Turkey from January 1, which could damage the Turkish tourism industry. A Russian soldier was killed in a rescue operation.
He accused Moscow of seeking to use the downing of the jet as an “excuse to make unacceptable accusations against us”, and accused Russians of “mistreating” Turkish citizens who were in the country for a trade fair.
Putin said that Russia was mourning for Paris victims and those who died in the downing of the Russian passenger plane over Egypt. He praised Hollande’s efforts to build an anti-terror coalition and said that Moscow was open for stronger cooperation.
Putin again spoke about the need for a broad worldwide coalition against terrorism and jihadism without any reservations, but added that Russian Federation is ready to act on its own if the idea does not receive wider support from the West.
Russian Federation is dispatching missiles to the Turkish border region as tensions escalate in the Middle East following the incident which Putin describes as a “stab in the back”.
The French leader also stressed the importance of Russian Federation playing a key roles in the political transition in Syria.
The Russian government will present a report on Saturday to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev containing response measures against Turkey.
“Today, in accordance with the decision made earlier, all communication channels between the Russian Defense Ministry and the Turkish armed forces have been discontinued”, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on its website Thursday.
Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 warplane on Tuesday, claiming that the jet had violated their airspace while refusing to answer their radio warnings.
Erdogan said Thursday in an interview with France 24 TV channel that he had tried to call Putin after the incident, but could not reach him.
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Erdogan said Turkey downed the jet as a result of what he called the automatic enforcement of the rules of engagement.
