Putin cancels Paris visit

FILE- In this file photo taken on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens as France’s President Francois Hollande speaking to him as they leave their news conference following talks in Moscow, Russia. Amid a bitter rift over Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin indefinitely postponed a visit to France after Paris had revised its program and said it would talk about nothing else but the Syrian crisis. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled his upcoming trip to Paris. The move comes after French President Francois Hollande accused the Kremlin of committing war crimes in Syria, Vestnik Kavkaza reports.

Speaking in an interview with French television channel TF1, Hollande said that he was unsure whether meeting Putin would be “useful” and that he considered canceling the event. The French president also said that he would only discuss the ongoing Syrian conflict.

“If I receive him, I would tell him that the bombing of Aleppo is unacceptable. These people are the victims of war crimes, and those who commit those acts will have to take full responsibility for them in front of the International Criminal Court,” Hollande said.

In response to this proposal, Russia has just indicated that it wants to postpone the visit planned on October 19, Reuters reports.