PARIS (Sputnik) — French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday he regretted that Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled his October 19 visit to France.
"We offered to discuss the situation in Syria with Vladimir Putin… Vladimir Putin has refused to visit to talk about Syria and this is what I regret. We want to talk about the situation in Syria with Russia," Ayrault said in an interview with France's Europe 1 radio station.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would have to cancel his visit to Paris due to a scheduling conflict, while remaining open to meeting French President Francois Hollande at the latter's convenience. Hollande also voiced his willingness to meet Putin and spoke of "a profound need" for the talks with Russia.
Ayrault told France Info on Tuesday that Paris remains open for talks with Russia on concerted efforts to battle terrorism in Syria.
