French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed to the palace of Versailles his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for an inauguration ceremony of an exhibition marking 300 years of Franco-Russian diplomatic relations. During their first meeting since the French President took office, the two leaders discussed, among others, the situation in Syria.
“The first thing (I said) was that on our side there was a very clear red line: the use of chemical weapons by anybody. And any use of chemical weapons will be subjected to reprisals and an immediate retaliation from the French.” / “Our absolute priority is fighting terrorism and the eradication of terrorist groups, and Daesh (Islamic State) in particular. That’s the guiding principle of our actions in Syria and that’s why outside of the work we’re doing as part of the coalition, I would like to strengthen our partnership with Russia,” said Macron.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized, during their joint press conference, that even though some differences persist between Moscow and Paris, there exists some common ground that could provide a basis for improvement of the quality of cooperation between the two countries.
“It is important that today, during the talks, we felt that there are many things that we evaluate in a similar way, that we assess many things from the same position, although there are some differences. But things that unite us give us a reason to think that we cannot only intensify but also improve the quality of our cooperation,” said Putin.
President Macron, who took office two weeks ago, has said dialogue with Russia is vital in tackling a number of international disputes. Nevertheless, relations have been beset by mistrust, with Paris and Moscow backing opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, a point of contention that has kept relations between both countries relatively chilled.