However, only three days after meeting Mr Macron, Mr Putin hosted Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The pair shook hands and sat with a small coffee table between them. During their ...

Macron opted for the latter. "We knew very well that meant no handshake and that long table ... about the meeting said the Russians explained to the French side that "Putin needed to be kept ...

Yet at the close of the event, Macron stunned allies by telling a news conference that ... regularly on the phone to Putin trying to coax him to the negotiating table. Macron allowed a film ...