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Macron and Putin vow to work together despite disagreements

Demonstrators have been gathering in Paris to voice their opposition to the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be the first foreign leader to visit France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron. Many expressed anger at Russia’s actions in Ukraine and Syria, and called on France to maintain or even stiffen sanctions against Moscow. “We are here to stop the war, to stop the killing of soldiers and civilians. I think that message is clear enough,” said one man. At the G7 Macron showed he was determined to be no pushover where President Donald Trump is concerned, but it remains to be seen if he will take a similar line with Putin. Macron has previously said he sees no reason to relax sanctions until Russia respects the terms of the Minsk accord. “So this is a possibility to open probably a new page, maybe to try to let the others forget about the not very successful events of the recent months when during the French election campaign Putin chose just one candidate out of several for the French presidency. And that happened to be Marine Le Pen,” says a former advisor to the last Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, Andrei Grachev. North Korea, Libya, the future of the EU and bilateral relations are also on the agenda, which the two men will discuss in the gilded spleandour of the Palace of Versailles.