French president to eat two dinners to keep Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin apart

French president François Hollande will have to dine twice this Thursday - first with US president Barack Obama, then with Russian president Vladimir Putin in order to keep apart the two leaders who are at odds, The Telegraph reports.

Hollande is hosting at least 18 heads of state this week to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Obama and Putin are among them, but do not plan one-on-one talks. 

US-Russian tensions are higher than they have been in years because of the unrest in Ukraine.