France's new President Emmanuel Macron was to host Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Monday in the latest test of his diplomatic mettle after vowing firm stands on Ukraine and Syria.

The 39-year-old centrist leader's meeting with Putin, 64, caps a whirlwind of diplomacy including the G7 talks as well as last week's NATO summit in Brussels.

Coming so soon after an election in which the Kremlin was widely seen as backing Macron's far-right rival Marine Le Pen -- with Putin hosting her during a surprise visit to Moscow -- the encounter in Versailles, near Paris, will have an added personal edge.

The visit comes seven months after the Russian leader cancelled a trip to Paris for the opening of a Russian cathedral complex near the Eiffel Tower in a spat over Syria with then president Francois Hollande, who had said Russia's bombing of Aleppo could amount to war crimes.

After the talks and a joint news conference, Putin will visit the Paris Orthodox cathedral complex on his own.

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