France's new President Emmanuel Macron will hold
delicate talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on
Monday with the two countries harbouring longstanding differences
over Ukraine and Syria.
Coming just three weeks after an election in which the Kremlin
was widely seen as backing centrist Macron's far-right rival
Marine Le Pen -- with Putin hosting her during a surprise visit
to Moscow -- the encounter in Versailles, near Paris, has an
added personal edge.
As a candidate, Macron, 39, had tough words for Russia, accusing
it of following a "hybrid strategy combining military
intimidation and an information war".
Since the start of the Ukraine crisis in 2014, Russia has flexed
its muscles with a series of war games involving tens of
thousands of troops in areas bordering NATO Baltic states.
Macron criticised Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and "shows
of force in Syria or alongside our coastlines and airspaces,
(and) the use of social media or state-controlled media to
destabilise public opinion".
But he said it was essential to "keep dialogue open with Moscow"
-- while government spokesman Christophe Castaner said Friday
that "dialogue does not mean agreement".
Ahead of Monday's meeting, the two countries' foreign ministers
spoke by telephone on Friday, the Russian foreign ministry
said.
