French president reaches out to Putin over continuing tension

French president Francois Hollande has met Russian leader Vladimir Putin during an impromptu visit to Moscow in a rare display of goodwill amid high tensions over the ongoing conflict in east Ukraine and France’s decision to suspend the delivery of two warships to Russia.

The French leader’s unexpected stopover in Moscow, as he travelled from Kazakhstan back to Paris, makes him the only head of state from a major western power to visit Russia since it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March.