Putin cancels visit to Paris after Hollande puts forward precondition
Russian President Vladmimir Putin has has cancelled a visit to Paris, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. “Certain events were planned connected with the opening of a Russian cultural-spiritual centre and the holding of an exhibit. Unfortunately, these events dropped out of the programme, and for this reason the president to cancel the visit to France for now,” Peskov said on state television. Addressing a PACE session on Tuesday, French President François Hollande said he would meet Putin only to discuss the situation in Syria. Peskov said that Putin is ready to discuss with Hollande his visit to France in future. On October 6, during a meeting with his French counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Putin would visit Paris on Oct. 19 to discuss the conflict in Syria and Ukraine with the French president.
