PARIS — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday cancelled a visit to France in a furious row over Moscow’s role in the Syrian conflict.The announcement from the Kremlin came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a "war crime" in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes.Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria.Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed more than 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.The French president had admitted he was agonising over whether to meet Putin, but the Kremlin on Tuesday called off the visit.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was ...
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