Putin, Hollande hold closed-door talks in Paris
October 2, 2015, 12:55 pm

Vladimir Putin met with President of France Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris on 2nd October [PPIO]

“Together with Putin, Russia’s delegation at the meeting included Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov,” said a Kremlin statement.

Russian warplanes unleashed a new wave of air strikes on Friday against terrorist groups at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The main summit in Paris between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as well as Putin and Hollande to eke out a peace deal in Ukraine is scheduled for Friday.

However, events in Syria have overshadowed the Ukraine talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN earlier that Russia was targeting the same terror groups as the US-led coalition, including the IS group and Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front.

“If it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?” he asked.

Russian President Putin also dismissed media reports that said Russian strikes in Syria had hit civilians.

“As for media reports that civilians suffer, we are prepared for such information attacks. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the first reports about civilian casualties appeared before our craft were airborne. This does not mean, however, that we should not pay heed to such information,” Putin said on Thursday.

“This is exactly why we are establishing contacts between our special services and those of the US and between the Defence Ministry and the Pentagon. This work is underway. I hope it will result in the creation of some permanent mechanism,” he added.

TBP and Agencies