Russia Ready to Join France in Fight Against Terror, Putin Says After Meeting Hollande
The French president has held a host of major meetings this week.
— -- French President Francois Hollande has added another world leader to his working anti-terror coalition after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin today.
"We have a common enemy, and it has the name 'Daesh,' the Islamic State," Hollande said during his visit to Moscow.
Putin is the latest world leader to meet with Hollande, as the French president met with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, traveled to Washington D.C. on Tuesday to meet with President Obama and returned to France on Wednesday to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris. Earlier today, Hollande met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Paris.
"I have come to Moscow to work out how we... should react, to find a way to coordinate our actions against the terrorists, but also to seek a political solution for Syria," Hollande said.
"It's necessary to create a large coalition to strike these terrorists."
For his part, Putin said that Russia was ready to work with the French in their fight against terrorists because they have been in a similar position, though he stipulated that he would only cooperate if the U.S. would as well.
"Russia has long known heavy terrorist acts and therefore we can sympathize with your losses," Putin said.
Putin also said that the two leaders agreed to avoid targeting groups who are ready to fight "terrorism" and even ready to cooperate with opposition groups fighting ISIS. Hollande said that the two countries must coordinate their strikes on ISIS' oil trucks.
There was one notable area difference between the two leaders, however, and that came when it was time to discuss the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Hollande said that Assad has no role in Syria's future, but Putin said that Assad's forces are the "natural ally" in the fight against ISIS because they have troops on the ground and that Assad's fate should be determined by the Syrian people.
Hollande's international push for support comes in the wake of the coordinated attacks in Paris that left 130 dead and hundreds of others injured.
At least one impact of the talks has already shown itself, as Germany announced today that they plan to increase their role in the fight against ISIS.
The German defense minister said today that they will be providing a naval frigate, satellite images and aerial refueling, all of which Hollande requested of Merkel on Wednesday.