French President wants to receive a Russian counterparts at the Elysée Palace. Vladimir Putin travels to the 70th anniversary of D-Day to Paris, the night before he will talk to François Hollande on Ukraine crisis.

French President had already made ​​strong for participation of Vladimir Putin in the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy. Now Francois Hollande wants to receive his Russian counterpart also at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Topic of discussion: the Ukraine crisis.

On June 5 , so the night before the D-Day anniversary , Putin and Hollande will meet. This was confirmed by the Kremlin. It will be Putin’s first meeting with the leadership of a western state , since Russia has annexed the Crimea.
“Then the presidents of the two countries will hold talks on the basic international and bilateral issues , to the Ukraine crisis is one ,” said a Kremlin spokesman. Putin’s attendance at the ceremony was interpreted in early May as a sign of relaxation.

On 6 June, Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama are expected there. Are possible side conversations of the official event in Deauville , an aide said Putin . Individual appointments are not planned . It is the first time since the controversial connection of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea to Russia that Putin personally coincides again with Western leaders .

As the NATO reports , Russia now has thousands of Russian soldiers drawn from the Ukrainian border. ” The activities that we observe suggest a slow retreat of the forces out ,” said an officer who asked not to be named. However, even tens of thousands of Russian soldiers held on in the area. You are still able to be used in the short term . Previous estimates of NATO declined from around 40,000 Russian soldiers at the Ukrainian border from .

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