Thanks for contacting us. We’ve received your submission.
Vladimir Putin is living la vie en roses.
The Russian president on Monday met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the Côte d’Azur — and he didn’t come empty-handed.
The despot was spotted handing a classy bouquet of roses and baby’s breath to French first lady Brigitte Macron on the steps of Fort de Brégançon, a medieval fortress that has served as a summer home for French presidents since 1968.
Standing alongside her 41-year-old husband, a bronzed Brigitte, 66, accepted the floral gift in a chic powder-blue shift dress and cream and gold heels.
The presidents had a meeting, followed by a dinner at the southern France palace, which the first lady reportedly attended.
Putin, 66, had a bouquet of similar-looking flowers waiting for the former schoolteacher when she and her husband visited St. Petersburg last year.
During Monday’s meeting, the two heads of state vowed to improve Moscow’s relations with the European Union and to relaunch peace talks with Ukraine.
Both presidents opened the door for a meeting, possibly in the coming weeks, between Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany.
But they disagreed on issues involving Syria and the handling of mass demonstrations in Moscow.
Earlier this month, France blasted the arrests of 2,000 protesters, including prominent critics of the Kremlin, as the “clearly excessive use of force.”
Putin defended his country’s cops, saying he doesn’t want Russia to have the kind of rioting that France has been engulfed in with the yellow vest anti-government protests.
“We would not want such a thing to happen in the Russian capital,” Putin said, adding, “We will do everything to make sure the situation remains within the realms of the law.”
Macron said the situations weren’t comparable — but that at least in France, protesters could run for elected office.
“We are a country in which people can express themselves freely, demonstrate freely, express their views freely but what we cannot accept is them causing damage and disturbing the public order,” he said.
With Post wires