Finnish president to raise Ukraine at meeting with Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, August 13, 2014. REUTERS/Alexei Nikolsky/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

YALTA Crimea (Reuters) - Finland's president is to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in southern Russia on Friday, the two governments said, but a Kremlin source played down the prospects for any breakthrough in the crisis over Ukraine.

With tensions running high between Russia and the European Union, Putin has not hosted any bilateral meeting with an EU leader on Russian soil since the Sochi Winter Olympics in February.