MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his French counterpart Francois Hollande in Moscow on Thursday to discuss coordination of efforts to rebuff the Islamic State terrorist group and a number of other topical issues of the international agenda, the Kremlin press service said.
Apart from that, the two president are expected "to exchange view on the entire spectrum of bilateral relations," the press service said.
The Russian and the French presidents agreed to meet in Moscow in a telephone conversation on November 17 after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris. Putin and Hollande "agreed to ensure closer contacts and coordination of actions between the two countries’ defense ministries and security services in special operations against terrorist structures Russia and France are conducting in Syria," the Kremlin press service said. In their telephone conversation, the presidents "focused on measures to expand bilateral and multilateral cooperation in countering international terrorism" following the barbaric terrorist attack that led to the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt and tragic developments in France.
On the same day, Putin issued an order to the Russian military to establish direct contact with the French partners and work with them "as allies" and to work out a plan of joint anti-terror efforts in Syria.
Hollande, who stands for consolidated international effort against terrorism, has already held talks with the British and German leaders. On November 24, he visited Washington where he met with U.S. President Barack Obama. After that meeting, the French leader said his country would work in cooperation with Russia in Syria in the event Moscow concentrated its efforts on uprooting the Islamic State and the search for a political solution to the Syrian crisis.