Putin meets Ukraine’s Poroshenko during D-Day ceremonies in France
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of D-Day 70th anniversary ceremonies in France on Friday. Earlier German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Putin that Moscow must “live up to its responsibility in this matter”.
Issued on: Modified:
Putin held 15 minutes of talks with Poroshenko in a meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande before a lunch for world leaders during the D-Day commemoration on Friday.
It was the first time the pair had met since Poroshenko, who will take office on Saturday, was elected on 25 May.
Earlier Merkel met both leaders separately, telling Putin that “the time must now be used, after the internationally recognised presidential election, to stabilise the situation, especially in eastern Ukraine”.
“Russia must live up to its significant responsibility in this matter," Merkel said, according to her spokesman Steffen Seibert.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that the two leaders spent their entire talks "searching for a solution to the Ukraine crisis".
"The conversation was essentially about finding solutions and compromises, not on differences of opinion," Peskov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Putin, who was barred from this week’s G7 meeting in Brussles, also came under pressure from British Prime Minister David Cameron, who told him to recognise the new president and stop arms and people crossing the border into Ukraine.
Although Hollande was obliged to have dinner and supper on Thursday evening so as to break bread with both Barack Obama and Putin, the US president said he expected to run into Putin in Normandy.
"Should we have the opportunity to talk, I'll deliver the same message as I have throughout this crisis,” he said. "If Russia's provocations continue, it's clear from our discussions here
the G7 nations are ready to impose additional costs.”
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe