Macron, Putin hold ‘frank’ talks on Syria, Ukraine

On the issue of Syria, Macron, whose nation supports removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said he would work with Putin to determine the best course of action in the country.

Moments later, however, the French president left little doubt that he was convinced the Russian government had tried to prevent his election by spreading false rumors about him through two state-owned news networks, Russia Today and Sputnik.

Vladimir Putin categorically denied such claims, asserting that ‘one should not invent imaginary threats from Russia.’ He also said that Russia has not meddled into such elections, which has ‘no interest in, ‘ he said.

“A very clear red line exists on our side – that is the use of chemical weapons by whomever”, Macron said at a joint news conference after his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reported on Monday.

The agenda of the talks covered a wide range of issues including the intensification of Russian-French political, economic and cultural cooperation and the situation in Ukraine, Syria and Libya and on the Korean peninsula.

The two men met in Versailles, at the Grand Trianon palace, in order to inaugurate the exhibition: “Peter the Great, a Tsar in France, 1717″, observing the 300th anniversary of the opening of the Russian embassy in Paris.

“That doesn’t mean we tried to influence the results of elections; indeed it’s nearly impossible”, he said.

The meeting was a chance for Macron to further establish himself on the worldwide scene after his debut last week at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting in Brussels and the Group of Seven summit in Sicily.

During their meeting, Putin and Macron agreed to increase the number of scientific, cultural and youth exchanges, with the French leader proposing the establishment of a French-Russian forum of civil society.

And as NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports, Macron tried to mend his country’s relations with Russian Federation. Changing things is not easy, and I say this without any irony.

And both leaders agreed they did not want Syria – where Russian Federation is propping up the government of President Bashar Assad – to collapse into a failed state.

The Russian president’s visit coincided with the arrival in France of the first Chechen gay person to be granted asylum because of persecution.

He added that Putin had told him during their meeting that he had taken measures to “establish the complete truth on the activities of local authorities” in Chechnya.

Since being elected, Macron appears to have toned down the rhetoric, although he noted the two leaders still had “diverging positions” in their first phone call.

The talks were intense at times, but Putin said Franco-Russian ties withstood “all points of friction” during the meeting.

Putin added that Russian Federation had been well-aware of opinion polls predicting Macron’s victory.

MACRON: (Through interpreter) I have a great relationship with foreign journalists as long as they’re journalists.

Still, the two leaders remain deeply at odds on key issues. The two leaders vowed to improve relations and jointly address worldwide problems.