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West divided as Ukraine urges allies to boycott Putin swearing-in

REUTERS
Tuesday, May 07, 2024

PARIS/LONDON: Germany and most European Union countries looked poised to boycott a Kremlin ceremony to swear in Vladimir Putin for a new six-year term on Tuesday, though France and several others were expected to send an envoy in spite of an appeal by Kyiv.

The varying diplomatic response by the Western powers underscored a difference of opinion over how to handle the Russian leader more than two years after he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin won a landslide victory in a presidential election in March just weeks after his most prominent opponent Alexei Navalny died in jail.