PARIS: 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.
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