France's Hollande says 'nothing worse than partition of Syria'

[PARIS] French President Francois Hollande said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that "that nothing would be worse than the partition of Syria," and urged him to move towards negotiations to end the country's civil war.

Mr Hollande posted a statement on his Facebook page, saying he had met Putin Sunday night on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China, and "alerted" him to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday ended a series of meetings in Hangzhou without a cease-fire agreement.

Mr Hollande said he also urged Mr Putin to work toward a settlement in Ukraine, and said the two men will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko "in the coming weeks" to discuss how to implement the Minsk accords to end the standoff in eastern Ukraine.

Mr Hollande discussed Ukraine with US President Barack Obama and Ms Merkel in a meeting on Monday in Hangzhou, a German government representative said but gave no further details.

BLOOMBERG