Russia’s offer for the West: an anti-terrorist coalition on Russian terms

On 17th November 2015 the Russian government revealed that the Russian passenger jet which came down over the Sinai peninsula on 31st October 2015 fell victim to a terrorist attack perpetrated by militants affiliated with Islamic State (IS) and announced that it would step up air strikes in Syria. Russian air forces in Syria, which for the first time received support from strategic bombers stationed in Russia, launched a series of air strikes targeting Raqqa, an IS stronghold. Vladimir Putin reiterated his call to form a common front in order to combat terrorism and ordered the Russian military to treat French military forces as allies and to coordinate their operations in Syria with them. Putin’s participation in the G20 summit, which was held on 15th and 16th November 2015 in Antalya in Turkey, was also meant to bring round Russia’s Western partners to its concept of ending the Syrian crisis. The Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov took a similar course during a meeting of a ‘group of Syria’s friends’ in Vienna on 14th November 2015.

ESO: Background information: G20 - Turkey 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-g20-turkey-2015/

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