Press TVFrance’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy has met with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin amid simmering tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.
On Monday, Sarkozy told reporters in Moscow that he had met with Putin and that they “had lunch together.”
A Kremlin spokesman also said that the meeting took place in Sochi and that it was of a “private nature”.
Sarkozy, whose presidential term ended in 2012, would not elaborate further on the details of their discussion.
France’s incumbent President Francois Hollande is due to meet Putin in Paris on June 5.
The Russian president is also scheduled to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron on June 6 on the sidelines of a commemoration ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings in Normandy, France.
The two leaders plan to talk about the crisis in Ukraine.
The United States and the European Union are at loggerheads with Russia over Ukraine. They accuse Russia of destabilizing Ukraine and have slapped a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures.
Moscow, however, rejects the accusation, saying the pro-Russia protests in Ukraine began spontaneously against the new government in Kiev.
The crisis in Ukraine erupted last November when the country’s then president, Viktor Yanukovych, refrained from signing an association agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia.
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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/06/02/365293/sarkozy-and-putin-meet-in-russia/