“I’m in Moscow with you to see how we can act together and coordinate so that we can strike this terrorist group, but also reach a solution for peace”, Hollande said.
Advertisement
“Our enemy is Daesh, Islamic State, it has territory, an army and resources, so we must create this large coalition to hit these terrorists”, he said.
On bilateral cooperation with France, he said the aim was to “establish constructive work by our military specialists to avoid duplication and avoid strikes on those territories and groups which are themselves ready to fight terrorism”.
French President Francois Hollande on Thursday will hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as part of his diplomatic marathon to forge a broader coalition against ISIL extremists in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Putin said after talks with Francois Hollande that Russian Federation is open to closer cooperation with both France and the U.S.-led coalition on selecting IS targets.
The Pentagon also clarified its position on the incident earlier on Tuesday, saying the U.S.-led campaign against the IS was neither affected by, nor involved in Turkey’s downing of the Russian plane.
The Russian leader said, under the cooperation already established with the US-led coalition, Russia’s military had passed on details of the flight plan of the jet that was shot down this week.
Hollande reiterated that Assad, a key Moscow ally, “has no place in the future of Syria”.
The downing featured heavily in Putin’s press conference with Hollande with the Kremlin strongman dismissing as “rubbish” claims by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Ankara did not know the jet was Russian.
“It is crucial in that period to avoid any risk, any incident, and prevent any escalation”, Hollande said.
Hollande’s task became even more arduous after the shoot-down of the Russian plane by Turkey, which underscored the complex military landscape in Syria, where a sprawling cast of countries and rebel groups are engaged on the battlefield and in the skies overhead, sometimes with minimal coordination.
French jets on Monday launched their first air strikes from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. The satellite surveillance could provide important information on IS and also help protect civilians with precise information.
Prior to his visit to Moscow, Hollande gained support from Britain, whose premier David Cameron set out his case Thursday for air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
Hours later, Prime Minister Charles Michel announced the alert level in Brussels was being lowered one notch from the highest level, on which it has been since Saturday.
Germany on Wednesday said it would send 650 soldiers to Mali to provide some relief to French forces fighting jihadists there.
The lowering of the threat level came as a surprise, since the government had said that it would likely keep the highest threat level in the capital through the weekend.
Advertisement
The decision still needs parliamentary approval, but it was expected to not meet much resistance by lawmakers.
