Vladimir Putin canceled his trip to France on Tuesday after French President Francois Hollande suggested Moscow was guilty of war crimes in Syria and said he would only discuss Syria with the Russian president.
Putin was scheduled to attend events next week connected to the opening of a Russian religious and cultural center in Paris.
"Regrettably, those events dropped out of the program," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to The Associated Press.
Tension was building between the two political figures after Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that was focused on bringing an end to Syrian regime airstrikes on Aleppo.
Hollande had recently suggested to French TV station TF1 that he was on the fence about canceling his meeting with Putin, as he suggested that Syria and Russia were behind the attacks on Aleppo, referring to the bombardments as “war crimes” that should be taken up in the International Criminal Court, CNN reported.
“I have asked myself that question: Is it useful? Is it necessary? Could we do something that pushes him as well and stop what they’re doing with the Syrian regime — that is to say the help they are providing to the Syrian regime, which sends bombs to the population of Aleppo?” Hollande said, according to CNN
"If I receive him, I would tell him that it is unacceptable, that it is bad even for the image of Russia. What I tell them, is that these populations are populations that are today victims of war crimes and those who commit those acts will have to pay for their responsibility in front of the International Criminal Court.”
Airstrikes on rebel-held areas in Aleppo killed at least 16 people on Tuesday after six days of a somewhat peaceful Aleppo, CNN noted. Russia has carried out airstrikes in Syria since September of 2015.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Russia for possible war crimes in Syria, echoing a similar call by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to investigate Russian and Syrian airstrikes, the AP reported.
Hollande said dialogue with Russia is necessary, "But it should be firm and open. Otherwise ... it's a mockery," the AP reported.
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson said traveling to Paris now could jeopardize Putin’s image as a strongman.
"I'm ready to meet President Putin if we can advance peace, end the bombings and announce a truce," Hollande said at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, according to Reuters.
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