PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting in southern France to discuss the world's major crises, including Ukraine, Iran and Syria, and try to improve Moscow's relations with the European Union.

Macron has invited Putin on Monday afternoon to his summer residence, the Fort de Bregancon on the French Riviera, for a meeting and dinner, just a few days before opening a meeting of the Group of Seven nations in the French city of Biarritz with U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders.

Russia was excluded from the group after it annexed Crimea in 2014.

France seeks to play the role of mediator in Russia's conflict with Ukraine and to convince Putin to use his influence to ease tensions in the Middle East.