AFP, Moscow :
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered the Russian navy in the Mediterranean to establish contact with its French counterparts and work together “as allies” in a campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria
Putin instructed his military to work out a joint Russian-French action plan against IS militants as he pushes the idea of establishing a broad anti-IS coalition that would involve both Russia and the West.
“It’s necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies,” Putin told the military top brass at a meeting after French President Francois Hollande said the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean.
“It’s necessary to work out with them a plan of joint actions both at sea and in the air,” Putin said, adding that both the chief of the general staff and the defence ministry had received orders to that effect.
The Kremlin said separately that Putin and Hollande had agreed in phone talks to ramp up cooperation and tackle “international terrorism” together.
“It has been agreed to ensure closer contact and coordination between the military and security service agencies of the two countries during operations against terrorist groups by Russia and France in Syria,” the Kremlin said in a statement following the phone call between Putin and Hollande.
The two will further discuss the fight against terrorism in a meeting in Moscow on November 26, the Kremlin said.
Putin has been seeking to capitalise on shifting dynamics in the West following Friday’s terror attacks in Paris and the bombing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in October, arguing that Russia and the West should unite against a common enemy.
Meanwhile, French and Russian air strikes in northern Syria have killed at least 33 jihadists with the Islamic State group in the last 72 hours, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.
Dozens of IS fighters were also wounded in the raids on weapons depots, barracks and checkpoints in the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital of Raqa, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
France intensified strikes on Raqa following last week’s attacks in Paris that left 129 dead, with warplanes carrying out dozens of raids on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Russia also pounded Raqa with long-range bombers and sea-launched missiles on Tuesday, after Moscow confirmed that a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board.
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered the Russian navy in the Mediterranean to establish contact with its French counterparts and work together “as allies” in a campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria
Putin instructed his military to work out a joint Russian-French action plan against IS militants as he pushes the idea of establishing a broad anti-IS coalition that would involve both Russia and the West.
“It’s necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies,” Putin told the military top brass at a meeting after French President Francois Hollande said the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean.
“It’s necessary to work out with them a plan of joint actions both at sea and in the air,” Putin said, adding that both the chief of the general staff and the defence ministry had received orders to that effect.
The Kremlin said separately that Putin and Hollande had agreed in phone talks to ramp up cooperation and tackle “international terrorism” together.
“It has been agreed to ensure closer contact and coordination between the military and security service agencies of the two countries during operations against terrorist groups by Russia and France in Syria,” the Kremlin said in a statement following the phone call between Putin and Hollande.
The two will further discuss the fight against terrorism in a meeting in Moscow on November 26, the Kremlin said.
Putin has been seeking to capitalise on shifting dynamics in the West following Friday’s terror attacks in Paris and the bombing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in October, arguing that Russia and the West should unite against a common enemy.
Meanwhile, French and Russian air strikes in northern Syria have killed at least 33 jihadists with the Islamic State group in the last 72 hours, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.
Dozens of IS fighters were also wounded in the raids on weapons depots, barracks and checkpoints in the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital of Raqa, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
France intensified strikes on Raqa following last week’s attacks in Paris that left 129 dead, with warplanes carrying out dozens of raids on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Russia also pounded Raqa with long-range bombers and sea-launched missiles on Tuesday, after Moscow confirmed that a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board.
