French President Francois Hollande now has two missions: protect his country from terrorism, and see if he can patch up an increasingly tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia.
Hollande on Thursday met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the hope of convincing Russia to work alongside the 65-member coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria.
Initial reports indicated he may have had some success. Putin reportedly told Hollande that Russia is “prepared to work with you” against ISIS, and another report said Hollande got Russia to agree only to hit ISIS targets in Syria.
“What we agreed, and this is important, is to strike only terrorists and Daesh and to not strike forces that are fighting terrorism,” Hollande said, according to CNBC. “We will exchange information about whom to hit and whom not to hit.”
But the U.S. has said it needs more than words from Russia. Officials have said Russia can’t be seen as a team player as long as it backs Syrian President Bashar Assad by attacking moderate Syrian rebels.
The State Department has also said that while Russia has alerted the coalition of some airstrikes, that doesn’t amount to cooperation with Russia.
The split between the U.S. and Russia appeared even more pronounced this week, when President Obama reacted to the shootdown of a Russian jet by Turkey by saying Turkey has a right to defend itself. Obama said the incident was also the latest example of the “ongoing problem with the Russian operation” in Syria.
Meanwhile, Russia has moved to sanction Turkey, and has warned that other steps may be forthcoming against the NATO member.
The U.S.-Russia split has made Hollande an even more critical link between the two superpowers. On Thursday, France was already hedging its bets. According to the AP, one official admitted that some steps toward “coordination” is a more reasonable outcome.
But during his meeting with Obama this week, Hollande sounded up to the task.
“I will tell [Putin] that France can work together with Russia if Russia concentrates its military action on Daesh, against ISIL, and if Russia fully commits to the political solution in Syria,” Hollande said after meeting with Obama. “This is what we want to do — we want to gather all countries, all those who are willing to find and to implement a political solution in Syria.”
This story was updated at 4:24 p.m.
