Putin, Hollande agree to coordinate military action in Syria against IS

Russia has made a decision to unilaterally suspend its visa exemption for Turkish citizens starting from January 1, 2016, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday.

Turkey has been defiantly claiming that the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace, even as radar imaging from Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Syria show that the Turkish jet actually violated Syrian airspace to attack the Russian jet.

President Obama and other Western leaders have sought to bring Putin into a U.S.-led coalition instead, a force that Putin has called illegal because it is launching airstrikes in Syria without Assad’s permission.

He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not answered his call after Tuesday’s incident that has seriously damaged ties between two rival players in the Syrian conflict.

The presidents travel to Paris to take part in COP21, a major United Nations climate conference which kicks off on November 30.

However Mr Putin has so far refused to contact Mr Erdogan because Ankara does not want to apologise for the downing of the jet, according to a Putin aide, Yuri Ushakov.

Putin on Friday discussed the downing with his security council, particularly the “increased tensions over Syria against the background of Turkey’s aggressive and unpredictable actions”, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia’s lower house speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, said on Friday that Moscow had the right to make a military response, calling the incident an “intentional murder of our soldiers”.

Russian tourist agencies have stopped booking trips to Turkey following the ministry’s suggestions. We could sit and talk there.

Turkish officials said the jet ignored repeated warnings and crossed into its airspace from Syria, where Putin’s planes are bombing enemies of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.

“I told Mr. Putin that France is willing and wants to work side by side with Russian Federation to achieve a common objective: the fight against terrorist groups, and IS first and foremost”, Hollande said.

However Putin said he would order Russia’s military to bolster its cooperation with French forces – including exchanging information about targets.

“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.