Macron to host Putin at Versailles next Monday

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Russia's Vladimir Putin next Monday at the Versailles château, the former seat of the French kings which is to host an exhibition on Peter the Great's visit to France 300 years ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Reuters

The French presidency announced Putin's visit, his first since Macron's election, on Monday and the Kremlin confirmed it.

There will be an "exchange of opinions" on international and regional questions, "notably the fight against terrorism and the solution of the crises in Syria and Ukraine", a Kremlin statement said.

Macron and Putin will also open the exhibition marking the 300th anniversary of the Russian tsar's first visit to France, which, the statement said, was "the basis for the stable relations between our two countries".

Putin phoned Macron the day after his election and called on him to end the "mutual mistrust" of François Hollande's term in office.

Russian ambassador to Paris Alexander Orlov recently commented that the most urgent question to settle was that of Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad, whom France holds responsible for the bloody civil war in his country.

Macron's supporters accused Russia of being behind cyberattacks on them during the presidential campaign, a charge the Kremlin denies.