Yahoo News Putin to get royal welcome from Macron at Versailles despite rift over Syria and cyberattacks
Emmanuel Macron is to host Russia's Vladimir Putin at the palace of Versailles next Monday for an exhibition marking 300 years of Franco-Russian diplomatic ties, amid strained relations between the two nations.
France and Russia have been at odds on Syria and Moscow's backing of President Bashar al-Assad. France has also been one of the key European Union countries to push for sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
The surprise visit to inaugurate the exhibition celebrating the 1717 visit of Peter the Great to France comes after complaints from the Macron camp that Russia was involved in a string of hack attacks against his campaign headquarters ahead of his May 7 election.
It comes seven months after Mr Putin, 64, cancelled a trip to Paris for the opening of a Russian cathedral complex near the Eiffel Tower and a landmark art exhibition, due to a spat with then president Francois Hollande.
The former French Socialist leader had accused Russia of war crimes for bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Mr Macron's election campaign was subject to repeated cyberattacks and his aides accused the Kremlin of mounting a "smear campaign" against him.
Thousands of emails and documents were dumped online by hackers shortly before midnight on the last day of campaigning and were then relayed by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. This prompted Mr Macron's foreign policy adviser to warn that he would be prepared to retaliate "not only in kind but also with any other conventional measure or security tool".
Paris prosecutors have opened a probe into the attack.
During the election campaign, Mr Macron was seen as having a tougher line on Russia than his main rivals, although he has said it was vital to continue talking to Moscow.
He backed expanding sanctions against Russia failing progress in implementing the long-stalled Minsk peace accords for eastern Ukraine, where Kiev's forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists.
While Russian state media was highly critical of Mr Macron, 39, during the campaign, Mr Putin was glowing about his far-Right Marine Le Pen, whom he received at the Kremlin.
But the two leaders agreed in their first phone call on May 18 to continue discussions on Ukraine and Syria despite their conflicting views.
Speaking last Friday, Russia's ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, said Moscow had a "positive perception" of Mr Macron, describing him as "a real head of state - very intelligent, realistic and pragmatic".
"I think he's not very ideological compared with his predecessors," Orlov told a meeting of business leaders. "With him we have more chances of moving forward than before."
The Kremlin said in a statement that the two men would discuss combatting terrorism and settling the crises in Syria and Ukraine.
Mr Macron will meet Mr Putin at the Grand Trianon, part of the sumptuous estate of the palace of Versailles, for an exhibition organised in conjunction with the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
