Althena
11th October 2016, 23:27
Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled a planned visit to France after Paris shortened the program for the trip. The development comes amid increased tensions between Russia and France over Moscow’s veto of a French UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria.
Putin was expected to arrive in Paris next week, but the visit has now been postponed, the Kremlin confirmed.
“There were some events scheduled, including the opening of a Russian cultural and religious center, [and] exhibitions. Unfortunately, those events were struck off the program, so the president decided to cancel his visit to France for now,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Kremlin official would not comment on why France chose to change the program of Putin’s visit, saying that “this question should be addressed to the French side.”
Commenting on the cancelation of the visit, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday he was prepared to meet Putin “at any moment” to discuss Syria.
"I consider it is necessary to have dialogue with Russia, but it must be firm and frank otherwise it has no place and it is a charade. I'm ready to meet President Putin if we can make progress on peace," the French leader said during a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Earlier, French diplomatic sources told Reuters that France wanted to downgrade the planned visit and cancel all events except a working meeting with President Hollande on Syria and that Russia chose to postpone the visit instead.
This comes a day after Hollande said he was reluctant to meet Putin after Russia blocked a French-sponsored resolution at the UN Security Council, which sought to impose a no-fly zone over Aleppo, Syria.
Moscow said that the resolution would protect terrorist group Al-Nusra Front, which controls a greater portion of eastern Aleppo, under a pretext of humanitarian relief. An alternative proposal by Russia, which would seek a deal with the group to grant them safe passage out of the city and spare its civilian population, was rejected by other members of the UNSC.
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More: https://www.rt.com/news/362341-putin-france-syria-talks/
Putin was expected to arrive in Paris next week, but the visit has now been postponed, the Kremlin confirmed.
“There were some events scheduled, including the opening of a Russian cultural and religious center, [and] exhibitions. Unfortunately, those events were struck off the program, so the president decided to cancel his visit to France for now,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Kremlin official would not comment on why France chose to change the program of Putin’s visit, saying that “this question should be addressed to the French side.”
Commenting on the cancelation of the visit, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday he was prepared to meet Putin “at any moment” to discuss Syria.
"I consider it is necessary to have dialogue with Russia, but it must be firm and frank otherwise it has no place and it is a charade. I'm ready to meet President Putin if we can make progress on peace," the French leader said during a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Earlier, French diplomatic sources told Reuters that France wanted to downgrade the planned visit and cancel all events except a working meeting with President Hollande on Syria and that Russia chose to postpone the visit instead.
This comes a day after Hollande said he was reluctant to meet Putin after Russia blocked a French-sponsored resolution at the UN Security Council, which sought to impose a no-fly zone over Aleppo, Syria.
Moscow said that the resolution would protect terrorist group Al-Nusra Front, which controls a greater portion of eastern Aleppo, under a pretext of humanitarian relief. An alternative proposal by Russia, which would seek a deal with the group to grant them safe passage out of the city and spare its civilian population, was rejected by other members of the UNSC.
dOav937xAyY
More: https://www.rt.com/news/362341-putin-france-syria-talks/