Is the ISIS fight bringing Russia in from the cold?
When Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, attended the G20 in Brisbane just over a year ago, the reception he received was frosty. Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, threatened to “shirt-front” him over the downing of Malaysian Flight MH17. But while the shirt-fronting didn’t happen, Western leaders did make it clear that Putin was somewhat out in the cold following the shooting down of MH17, the annexation of Crimea and Russian support for rebel separatists in Ukraine. Cold has been the dominating word to describe Europe and the West’s relationship with Russia over the last few years but the fight with ISIS and need for concerted global action now taking centre-stage, are signs of a thaw beginning to appear?