Putin takes hard line on Ukraine truce during Olympic Games

News Snapshot:

President Vladimir Putin lays flowers in Harbin on Friday at the Soviet martyrs' monument, built to commemorate Red Army soldiers who died during the second World War. Photograph: Alexander Ryumin/Getty Images Russian president Vladimir Putin has rejected a call for a truce in the war in Ukraine during the Olympic Games, blaming the ban on Russian athletes competing under their flag. Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to China, he said that Chinese president Xi Jinping raised the issue of an Olympic truce during talks. On a visit to Paris last week Mr Xi endorsed French president Emmanuel...