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Putin, Cameron discussed ways to settle Ukrainian crisis

Journalists noted that there had been no traditional shake of hands at the beginning of the meeting

PARIS, June 06 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron, who met at the VIP lounge of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday, discussed ways of settling the situation in Ukraine and invigorating the Russian-British dialogue, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said after the talks.

“Putin and Cameron discussed various aspects of bilateral relations, including matters if invigorating the Russian-British dialogue, which is currently in a frozen state. Much attention was paid to efforts to find ways of the settlement of the situation in Ukraine,” he noted.

Putin’s first meeting with Cameron since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine was the first one in the series of meetings Putin plans to have in France with European leaders, who agreed at the yesterday’s Group of Seven summit in Brussels their common position towards Russia. Earlier, Cameron said he planned to lay a number of conditions Russia was to fulfill to normalize its relations with the West. One of such conditions, according to Cameron, was to recognize Petr Poroshenko as Ukraine’s new president and to stop supporting volunteer self-defence forces in Ukraine’s eastern regions, as another conditions.

Journalists noted that there had been no traditional shake of hands at the beginning of the meeting. After the talks they finally shook hands.

Later on Thursday, Putin will meet with French President Francois Hollande. On Friday, he plans a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.