Hollande, Putin Come Together in Russia for Surprise Meeting

The presidents of France and Russia held an unexpected and unplanned meeting in Russia to discuss the current crisis in Ukraine, where a ceasefire is scheduled to take effect Dec. 9.

Reuters reports that French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at a Moscow airport as Putin returned from a trip to Kazakhstan.

Hollande's visit to Russia makes him the first Western leader to visit Russia since it seized the Crimean peninsula and began to back an armed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Both men told journalists that they hoped the fighting in eastern Ukraine would come to an end, and that a ceasefire between the Ukrainian government and separatists would be honored by both sides.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in the fighting that erupted after the revolution that saw Ukraine's previous president Viktor Yanukovich overthrown.

Reuters reports that Hollande said a major reason for his spontaneous visit was a speech Putin gave Dec. 4 where he claimed that the West sought a return to the time when Russia was isolated by an "Iron Curtain" that separated East and West Europe.

Neither man discussed the handing over of French amphibious assault ships known as Mistral class vessels to the Russian government. The issue of the Mistral ships has been a serious strain in Franco-Russian relations.

Russia ordered and paid for two of the ships, one of which has been completed and was supposed to be delivered to Russia before 2015. Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for insurgents, in addition to heavy pressure from countries like Great Britain and the United States, led France to postpone the deal indefinitely.

The Mistrals are a critical part of Russia's multi-billion dollar military modernization program.