[Breaking news update 6:15 a.m. ET]
Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled a planned visit to France next week, a Kremlin source said Tuesday, after French President Francois Hollande suggested Russia was guilty of war crimes in Syria.
The Kremlin source, which spoke to Russian state-run news agency TASS, did not explicitly say why Putin had pulled out of the trip. Hollande had earlier suggested to French TV station TF1 that he was mulling whether to meet with Putin after Moscow vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution to stop the bombardment of Aleppo.
Hollande also said that those behind the bombardment of Aleppo — alluding to Syria and Russia — should be held accountable in the International Criminal Court.
Putin was scheduled to visit Paris on October 19 to open a Russian Orthodox church.
[Previous story published 6:04 a.m. ET]
French President Fracois Hollande said he may snub Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Paris next week and suggested Moscow should be taken to the International Criminal Court over “war crimes” committed in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Hollande’s comments came after Moscow vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at ending Syrian regime airstrikes on Aleppo and allowing humanitarian aid into the city. The resolution had been put forward by France and Spain.
In an interview with TF1’s Quotidien program in France, Hollande said he was unsure if he would welcome Putin, who was due to visit for the opening of a Russian Orthodox church in Paris on October 19.
“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?”
“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,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state-owned TASS news agency that talks at the Elysee Palace were still scheduled.
“We have no other information from our French colleagues, we judge from this,” Peskov said.
Desperate for aid
Russia has carried out airstrikes in Syria since September 2015 in coordination with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Moscow says it is targeting militant groups, but some of those same groups are being armed by the US to fight the Assad regime, essentially pitting the Cold War enemies against each other.
The Russian veto on Saturday had been expected, and on Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said airstrikes by Syrian forces with Russian support should be investigated as war crimes as they hit hospitals and civilians.
Regime forces in July encircled rebel-held parts of Aleppo, mostly in the city’s east, creating a stranglehold that cut the population off from basic food, water, medical and fuel supplies.
Aid agencies have struggled to make deliveries into the city. An aid convoy last month was attacked when it was finally able to enter after a days-long ceasefire.
The Syrian regime has pounded rebel-held Aleppo with airstrikes since July, but it scaled back last week as it began a ground offensive to take back parts of the city.
It has been accused of using chemical weapons, such as chlorine gas, on the population there. Syria and Russia deny this.
Parts of eastern Aleppo have been rebel held since 2012.