Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled a planned visit to France after Paris shortened the program for the trip. The development comes amid increased tensions between Russia and France over Moscow’s veto of a French UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria. Putin was expected to arrive in Paris next week, but the visit has now been postponed, the Kremlin confirmed.
“There were some events scheduled, including the opening of a Russian cultural and religious center, [and] exhibitions. Unfortunately, those events were struck off the program, so the president decided to cancel his visit to France for now,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Kremlin official would not comment on why France chose to change the program of Putin’s visit, saying that “this question should be addressed to the French side.” READ MORE
