French President Francois Hollande will certainly not be hungry on Thursday evening as he will have dinner twice - first with the President of the United States Barack Obama, and then with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, writes the London "Telegraph" today.
"It will be a digestive and logistical challenge, but the safest diplomatic solution for the French president so that the two presidents do not meet," the paper adds.
Hollande will host at least 18 heads of state this Sunday to mark 70 years since the Allied landings in Normandy. Obama and Putin are among them, but their bilateral meeting is not planned due to tensions over Ukraine.
French and Russian diplomats in Paris say Hollande will host two dinners on Thursday. Obama will arrive first, followed by Putin two hours later, say the unnamed diplomats.
Obama's foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes says that the US president will have a series of separate meetings, but that "there will be no trilateral dinner".
One of the dinners could possibly be outside the Elysée Palace, says the unnamed French diplomat. This would reduce the likelihood of Obama and Putin running into each other.
"Telegraf" adds that due to its banking and energy ties with Russia, France was much more cautious about the introduction of Western sanctions against Russia, and Hollande defended his decision to keep Putin on the list of guests for the commemoration of the Normandy landings.
The paper also adds that Putin could run into newly elected Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, whom Hollande added to the list of guests at the last minute.
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