French former PM says dialogue with Russia needed for stabilizing Syria

PARIS, October 10. /TASS/. French President Francois Hollande should agree to have a personal meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin who is due to pay a visit to Paris on October 19, France’s former Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday.

Fillon told Europe 1 radio station that the dialogue with Moscow is a vital condition for stabilizing the situation in Syria and in the Middle East in general. "Of course, he (Hollande) has to receive the Russian president. Do we want to fight against Russia? This dialogue has been needed for four years already." The politician reminded that in his speech before the Congress after the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 Hollande announced that he would call for creating a broad coalition involving Russia. "All this was forgotten later," he said.

Fillon stressed that the situation in Syria demands the efforts of all global powers and a constructive dialogue between them.

"What is happening in Aleppo is a crime, this is awful and should be decisively condemned by the international community. All this is also the result of our impotence over the past four years, our inability to understand the consequences of the Syrian crisis - this is the silence of Europe and the refusal to hold dialogue with Russia at the moment when it was possible and the refusal to have dialogue with the (Assad) regime," he said.

Earlier on Monday, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Hollande has not yet made a final decision on his personal meeting with Putin in Paris. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that the Russian side continues preparations for the visit of Putin to Paris during which the talks with Hollande are scheduled to be held.