PARIS, September 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Paris for the funeral of France’s former President Jacques Chirac.

The service is to be attended by some 80 current and former foreign heads of state. The ceremony of public tribute to Chirac at the Hotel des Invalides memorial complex in the center of Paris on Sunday was attended by thousands of mourners.

Putin and Chirac repeatedly met in the capacity of their countries’ leaders and after Chirac left the presidential post. In an interview to The Financial Times last June Putin said that Chirac was one of the foreign leaders he had chanced to meet with who produced the most serious impression. Putin described Chirac as "a true intellectual, a real professor, a very level-headed man as well as very interesting."

Chirac died at home in the morning of September 26 surrounded by his family. He will be buried at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris next to his daughter Laurence.