Brussels: Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, stated on Friday that he may strip Vladimir Putin of France's highest honour, but he is holding off until the "right moment."
In 2006, after Moscow had improved ties with Paris and the West, Putin was awarded the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'Honneur, the highest honour accorded by France.
But since Putin gave the order for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, relations have all but collapsed, and the European Union has enacted a number of severe economic sanctions, AFP reported.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine received the top honour from Macron on Wednesday, but Putin has not yet been formally stripped of it.
After an EU summit where leaders discussed increasing the flow of weaponry to Ukraine, Macron acknowledged that the issue around Putin's medal was "symbolic but important."
Macron noted that while he thought he had the authority to revoke the honour, he said, "It is not a decision that I made today."
These decisions, he said, "are always meaningful and I think you have to appreciate the right moment to make them".