When French President Francois Hollande meets President Barack Obama Tuesday, he will ask Washington to support his vision of a grand coalition to defeat ISIS. The administration will no doubt repeat its commitment to a coalition that includes enhanced intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation as well as support for strikes in Syria against the Islamic State. The two countries also are likely to discuss their efforts to halt terrorist financing. But when Hollande flies directly from Washington to Moscow, Obama must ensure that Hollande takes a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin: Russian help against ISIS will not change western sanctions over Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The above excerpt was originally published in Defense One.
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