PARIS, July 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) – French President Emmanuel Macron said he will host his Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin for talks at the Bregancon fort off the Mediterranean coast on August 19, just days before a summit of the G7 leaders of industrialized nations.
Macron, who arrived this week for his summer vacation at the medieval French fort on an islet near Bormes-les-Mimosas, announced Putin’s visit to reporters during a visit to the local town on Saturday evening, French news agency AFP reported.
France will welcome leaders of the G7 – which used to be the G8 until Russia was excluded in 2014 – to the south-western seaside town of Biarritz from August 24-26.
Macron, who met with Putin during the G20 summit in Japan last month, already said at the time that he planned a meeting with the Russian president in the run-up to the G7. It was “indispensable” for France to take the initiative during its G7 presidency, he said.
Macron earlier Saturday flew to Tunisia for the funeral of the country’s first democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi.
