Focus on our common foe, says Barack Obama

Russia implements Turkish sanctions

US President Barack Obama urged Turkey on Tuesday to reduce tensions with Moscow after the downing of a Russian warplane and to seal its border with Syria to choke off the supply of money and fighters to ISIS militants.

He also raised the spectre of Afghanistan in warning Russia against getting bogged down in its military campaign to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But hopes of the de-escalation called for by Mr Obama suffered a setback when Russia officially announced a list of sanctions to be imposed on Turkey and sources said Moscow may also freezework on a major gas pipeline project.

Mr Obama met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Paris, where they have been attending a climate summit, a week after Turkis hjets shot down a Russian warplane along the Syrian border Mr Obama stressed that US support for its Nato ally’s security remained steadfast.

“The United States supports Turkey’s right to defend itself and its airspace and its territory,” Mr Obama said. “We discussed how Turkey and Russia can work together to de-escalate tensions and find a diplomatic path to resolve this issue.” Mr Obama told Erdogan that ISIS must be pursued by all sides, echoing a message he delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. “We all have a common enemy, and that is ISIL, and I want to make sure that we focus on that threat,” Mr Obama said.

Tensions between Russia and Turkey have complicated US efforts to prod Moscow into steering its military might towards ISIS rather than Western-backed Syrian Opposition groups. Mr Putin supports Mr Assad, while Mr Obama and Mr Erdogan want him to go.

Mr Obama said he did not expect a quick reversal of Mr Putin’s strategy in Syria, but Moscow may eventually align itself withthe US-led coalition fighting ISIS.

“I think M. Putin understands that with Afghani-stan fresh in the memory for him to simply get bog-ged down in an inconclusive and paralysing civil conflict is not the outcome that he’s looking for,” Mr Obama told a press conference. The Soviet Union inv-aded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up a pro-Moscow government but withdrew a decade later after failing to beat Afghan guerrillas.

With Mr Putin committed to keeping Mr Assad in power in Damascus, Mr Obama did not expect Russian warplanes to shift their focus soon to hitting ISIS rather than other opposition groups. “I don’t expect that you’re going to see a 180 turn on their strategy over the next several weeks,” Mr Obama said.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for the opening of communication channels between Ankara and Moscow to prevent further incidents like the downing of the warplane.

Mr Putin has said Turkey shot down the jet to protect supplies of oil from ISIS, a claim that Mr Erdogan dismisses as “slander”.