Francois Hollande is set to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow today as part of a series of diplomatic efforts this week by the French president to boost international cooperation in the fight against IS in the wake of the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
The Kremlin's press service said earlier this morning that the two leaders would "discuss questions of countering the terrorist threat, including coordination in the battle against the IS group, and also a number of other current issues on the international agenda. An exchange of views on a whole range of bilateral relations is expected."
Hollande's meeting with Putin comes just two days after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 jet in Syria and amid the resulting diplomatic crisis between Ankara and Moscow that will affect the French President's attempts to build an international anti-IS coalition.
Russia's Interfax news agency says it spoke today to Will Stevens, the spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, in the wake of the U.S. Treasury's sanctioning yesterday of Russian nationals and entities for helping the Syrian government.
The U.S. Embassy said the sanctions were not against the official authorities of the Russian Federation, and the decision to impose them was taken long before the incident this week with the Russian Su-24 jet.
Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 jet in Syria on November 24.
Stevens said that Washington had "planned to announce the decision about the imposition of sanctions before the November 24 incident between Turkey and Russia had taken place," according to Interfax.
The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Russian businessman, former president of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia, and the World Chess Federation president.
Also sanctioned are Syrian businessman George Haswani, who also has Russian nationality and Mudalal Khuri, who has Russian nationality. The U.S. Treasury said that Haswani was acting as a middleman for oil purchases by the Syrian government from IS.
The Russian Financial Alliance Bank has also been sanctioned.
The U.S.Embassy in Moscow has talked to the Russian news site Kommersant to explain Washington's position over Russia's announcement that the downing by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 jet in Syria was a "flagrant violation" of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Russia and the United States last month to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between Russian and U.S.-led coalition aircraft.
Russia considers that the Memorandum applies to all coalition countries, including Turkey.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy said that in Washington's view, the Memorandum applies to Turkish planes that are engaged in operations against IS in Syria and Iraq.
"[The Memorandum] does not apply to and does not limit the right of Turkey to defend its sovereign air space in accordance with international law. We support Turkey's right to defned its territory and its air space," the Embassy spokesman told Kommersant.
As French President Hollande heads to Russia today for talks with Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron has told Parliament that Britain should join air strikes against IS in Syria.
Amid soaring tensions with Turkey, Russia says this morning that it is reinforcing controls over food imports from Turkey, saying 15 percent of the imports do not meet Russian safety standards.
Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said that the ministry has received appeals "recently" from consumers and industry associations over safety standards of Turkish imports.
"The Ministry of Agriculture analyzed the situation, and I have informed the government of the Russian Federation that, unfortunately, on average, 15% of Turkish agricultural products do not comply with Russian standards," Tkachev said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that there are no plans for a meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the global climate summit in Paris on November 30.
"No seperate meeting is being divulged or specified. And right now I do not have information about any planned telephone call between the leaders," Dmitry Peskov said.
As tensions soar between Turkey and Russia, Alexander Clarkson from Kings College London injects some pop culture humor into the situation.
TASS has more on Russia's announcement this morning that it will reinforce more controls over Turkish food imports, amid the crisis over Turkey's downing of a Russian Su-24 jet on November 24.
Consumer rights protection agency Rospotrebnadzor, which has been tasked by the Russian government with reinforcing the controls, has told TASS that it has seized "over 800 kilos of food products, including meat, fish, confectionary and also fruit and vegetables... non-compliance with regulatory requirements during the year has also been revealed among categories of goods such as children's clothing, furniture, detergents and cleaning products."
One of the issues that French President Hollande is expected to discuss with his Russian counterpart Putin in Moscow later today is his proposal to close the Syria-Turkey border -- which continues to be the main transit point for foreign militants entering Syria to join IS as well as for IS militants to leave Syria en route to Europe.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia supports the proposal, the Russian media reported yesterday, ahead of today's meeting between Putin and Hollande.
"I think that this is a correct proposal. I think that tomorrow, President Hollande will talk to us in more detail about that. We would be prepared to seriously discuss the necessary measures for that. Many people say that by closing that border, in essence we will be closing, thwarting the terrorist threat in Syria," Lavrov said.
Analyst Charles Lister has noted some interesting points from this memo from the UK Prime Minister's Office to the UK's Foreign Affairs Select Committee today, presented as British Prime Minister David Cameron pushes for Britain to extend air strikes against IS to Syria.
One of the most eye-opening revelations in the report is that half of the 800 UK nationals identified as having travelled to Syria since 2011 have returned home.
The memo makes the case for air strikes against IS in Syria as one part of a strategy to defeat the group:
Military action is only one element of what is needed to defeat this appalling terrorist death cult. But it is a vital element: ISIL is not a threat that can be negotiated away. This is as true in Syria as it is in Iraq.
The memo also warns against allying with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against IS -- a move that Assad's ally Russia has pushed.
Some have argued that we should ally ourselves with Assad and his regime against the greater threat posed by ISIL, as the ‘lesser of two evils’. But this misunderstands the causes of the problem; and would make matters worse. By inflicting brutal attacks against his own people, Assad has in fact acted as one of ISIL’s greatest recruiting sergeants. We therefore need a political transition in Syria to a government that the international community can work with against ISIL, as we already do with the Government of Iraq