Putin wants to turn page from Ukraine to Syria

  • 9 years ago
When it comes to relations with Russia, the Kremlin wants the West to choose between sticking by its diplomatic guns on Ukraine or working arm-in-arm in Syria.
So far, the EU and U.S. are resisting a zero-sum choice.
In the days since the Paris terrorist attacks, senior officials in Washington and European capitals have signalled their reluctance to turn the page on the Ukraine crisis, normalize relations with Moscow and join forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
Yet Moscow is pressing on the military and diplomatic fronts, and looking to open up new lines of communication with Western leaders.
President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces in Syria to treat the French as "allies," and Moscow was unusually cooperative last week in backing France's U.N. Security Council resolution, which urges countries to take "all necessary measures" against the Islamic radicals.

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