France and Russia are both talking about a grand coalition against ISIS, but that’s easier said than done

The President of France is continuing his quest to create a grand alliance against ISIS, following the massacres in Paris on Nov. 13.

Earlier this week, François Hollande met with Barack Obama in Washington. On Thursday he went to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin.

“Mr. Putin’s been saying the same kind of thing for the last couple of weeks,” says Moscow-based reporter, Charles Maynes.

France and Russia have both suffered from ISIS violence recently. France — with the attacks on Paris, and Russia with the bombing of an airliner over Egypt barely a week before that.

Everyone seems to agree, in principle, that an alliance is a good idea. But that's a lot easier said than done. France and the US are already allied with Turkey, which just shot down a Russian warplane.

That plane appears to have been bombing Syrian rebels sponsored by Turkey and the US, and opposed to Russia's friend, Bashar al-Assad.

The Russian response to that incident seems to be toughening up, with the announcement in Moscow of sanctions against Turkey.

After meeting Putin, Hollande said Russia agreed to a common three-point strategy to tackle ISIS in Syria. Hollande said the two countries had agreed to exchange and share military information, increase the number of airstrikes, and avoid targeting groups that were fighting against ISIS.

However, there was no mention of other issues dividing Russia and the West. Before he went to Moscow, Hollande said there would be no easing of sanctions against Russia, imposed because of its aggression in Crimea and Ukraine. “But it may be something they’ll be looking for down the line,” says Maynes. “So I can see this as something that might lead to a loosening of the grip of sanctions over Russia, particularly from the Europeans, less so from the Americans.”