Russia is prepared to create a "single General Staff" to fight the Islamic State group in Syria, that could include France, the United States and even Turkey, Russia's ambassador to France has told the Europe 1 radio station, according to pro-Kremlin news site RIA Novosti.
Alexander Orlov said that such a coalition could take "various forms."
"The first is coordination, and that is necessary, but we are ready to go further, and to plan attacks together on IS positions and create, to this end, a single General Staff with the participation of France, the United States, and all countries who are prepared to participate in the coalition," Orlov said.
There is yet more Russian military build up in Syria in response to the Su-24 jet downing by Turkey.
In addition to announcing plans to send S-400 anti-aircraft systems to Syria's Latakia province, Moscow has also declared this morning that it is sending the Moskva guided missile cruiser to Syria, in the wake of yesterday's downing by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 jet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed up his Foreign Ministry's recommendation that Russian citizens refrain from traveling to Turkey, the Russian media reports.
"After such tragic events as the destruction of our aircraft and the death of a pilot, this is a necessary measure, and the Foreign Ministry is right to warn our citizens of the danger," Putin said.
The TASS news agency has more details on Russian President Putin's announcement that anti-aircraft systems will be sent to the Russian Hmeymim air base in Latakia province in Syria.
Russia has announced this morning that it will send its S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft systems to Latakia.
TASS quoted Putin as saying:
"The S-300 air defense system will be sent to our air force base in Syria; I hope that this and other measures (this is not the only measure that we will take) will be enough to safeguard our pilots.
I want to say that we, of course, are going to treat what happened very seriously and we will use all means to ensure safety."
Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has now confirmed that the second Russian pilot from the downed Su-24 jet has been rescued and returned to a base.
The man who was rescued was the jet's navigator, Shoigu said.
He was rescued by Russian special forces and the Syrian army in an operation that lasted 12 hours and which concluded at 3.40 Moscow time, or 12.40 GMT.
The navigator has now been returned to the base, and is "alive and well."
"The operation has been completed successfully. The navigator was returned to our base. He is alive and well. I want to thank all our guys, who worked all night at great risk. I reported the successful operation to the Commander in Chief. He asked [me] to pass on thanks to all the personnel who took part in the operation," Shoigu said.
Russia has not yet considered withdrawing its ambassador from Ankara in the wake of yesterday's downing by Turkey of the Russian Su-24 jet, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry has told TASS.
"At this stage, the question of removing the Russian ambassador has not been considered. We are waiting for an explanation from the Turkish side," the Foreign Ministry source said.
More on the antiaircraft system from our news desk:
Russia plans to deploy an advanced antiaircraft system at its military base in Syria.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow on November 25 that the Defense Ministry had recommended installation of the advanced S-400 antiaircraft system at the Hmeimim military base and that President Vladimir Putin had authorized it.
Earlier, Putin, speaking in Yekaterinburg, apparently misspoke when he said the less-advanced S-300 would be sent to Syria.
The announcements come one day after a Russian warplane was shot down by a Turkish fighter along the Turkey-Syria border. One Russian pilot was killed in that incident.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on November 24 that the Moskva cruiser, equipped with the naval version of the S-300 antiaircraft system, would be moved into position in the Mediterranean Sea off of Syria's coast.
"We warn that all targets potentially dangerous to us will be destroyed," Russian General Staff official Sergei Rudskoi said.
Ankara says it shot down the Russian warplane after it strayed into Turkish airspace and failed to respond to 10 warnings. Moscow says the plane never left Syrian airspace.
With Russian, U.S., NATO, Syrian and other nations’ aircraft flying combat sorties over Syria, experts had long warned of the possibility of an aerial confrontation.
Reuters has more details of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's comments this morning in the wake of yesterday's downing of a Russian Su-24 jet in Syria.
"We have no intention of escalating this incident. We are only defending our own security and the rights of our brothers," Erdogan said, presumably refering to ethnic Turkish Turkomans in northern Latakia.
Erdogan said that the jet had been fired on when it was in Turkish air space but it crashed inside Syria. Some parts of the plane landed in Turkey and injured two Turkish citizens.
Erdogan was speaking at a business event in Istanbul.
The Kremlin has published a transcript of Russian President Vladimir Putin's answers to two questions from journalists about the downing of the Su-24 jet by Turkey as well as a video of Putin answering the questions.
Here are translated excerpts from Putin's answers:
Question: Yesterday , the Foreign Ministry recommended that our tourists don't travel to Turkey. What do you think about that recommendation? Hundreds of our citizens vacation there.
Putin: What's to be done! After such tragic events as the destruction of our plane and the death of a pilot, this is a necessary measure...
The problem is not even with the tragedy we faced yesterday. The problem is far deeper. We are seeing -- and it's not just us, let me assure you, it's seen all over the world -- the current leadership of Turkey over a number of years has been conducting a deliberate internal policy of Islamizing its country.
Islam is a great world religion, it's one of the traditional religions of the Russian Federation, we ourselves support Islam and we will continue to do so. But we are talking about support for more radical, as it were, tendencies, and this in itself creates a very hostile environment and atmosphere , which is not noticeable at first. That is the first thing.
Secondly, after what happened yesterday, we cannot exclude any other incidents. And if these occur, we have to react somehow to them. And our citizens, in Turkey, of course could be exposed to significant danger and the Foreign Ministry has to mention that.
Question: Everyone is concerned about the fate of the second pilot, is there any information about him?
Putin: Yes, he has been rescued, it was the navigator. I think that he is in our base, in the aerodrome, and he alongside everyone else involved in the rescue operation, will be awarded state awards. The Ministry of Defense came up with that proposal. The commander of the vessel will be awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal posthumously.
Russia has awarded the pilot of the downed Su-24 a posthumous Hero of the Russian Federation medal.
The award was conferred after Russian President Putin signed a decree this morning, "On the awarding of state medals of the Russian Federation to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."
The proposal to award the pilot a posthumous medal was made by the Defense Ministry, Putin told reporters this morning.