French President Hollande urgently flies to Moscow to meet Putin

French President Francois Hollande will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss the crisis in Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports.

The meeting between the two presidents will take place within the framework of Hollande's unscheduled visit to Moscow after the talks in Kazakhstan.

A day earlier, at a press conference in Astana, after the talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of France called for joint efforts with the leaders of Russia, Germany and Ukraine to ease tensions in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande will meet at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport at 4:30 p.m. MSK.

Noteworthy, Russia is expecting the delivery of Mistral helicopter carriers from France. The head of the French Defense Department has recently stated that France may never deliver the vessels to Russia on account of the Ukrainian crisis. Russia's Ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, stated that France had not reached the deadline under contractual terms. According to him, Moscow is expecting to receive the vessels in early 2015. "If they deliver the vessels, we will be happy. If they do not deliver the vessels, but pay a compensation instead, we will be happy too," Orlov said.