Putin and Hollande “will discuss international issues including Syria and Ukraine,” Lavrov told France’s foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault at a meeting in Moscow; AFP reported.

Putin’s visit to France — his first to the country since he attended a climate summit in Paris late last year — has been in the planning for months, with the Kremlin strongman expected to inaugurate a Russian Orthodox cultural complex in the capital.

The trip comes amid a spike in tensions with the West over Moscow's bombing campaign in war-torn Syria.

S/SH 11