Milan, March 6 - Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Expo 2015 in Milan on June 10, the day chosen to celebrate Russia at the world's fair.

The announcement was made on Thursday during Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's visit to Moscow.

Renzi told his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev that he hopes a large number of Russians will visit the Universal Exposition opening in Milan on May 1 and continuing through October 31.

"We expect your fellow citizens to show up in numbers at Expo, to which Russia has made a significant contribution," Renzi told Medvedev.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Paris presented its bid to host the Universal Exposition in 2025.

ExpoFrance 2025 chief Jean-Christophe Fromantin said the French capital will bid with the slogan 'Au coeur des territoires s'ouvre celui des homes', which translates as 'In the heart of territories opens up that of mankind'.

Fromantin said Paris was "closely" eyeing rival projects presented by other cities, such as London, to host the six-month-long world's fair.Paris could create the Eiffel Tower of the future if the city were to again host the event, said Fromantin, referring to the iconic tower built for the 1889 Universal Exposition.

In the near-term, Dubai will host the 2020 Expo.

Meanwhile, as the countdown for the anticipated Italian edition began, Milan Expo already clocked over 1 million 'likes' on its Facebook page and 374,000 followers on its Twitter account, organizers said this week.

Less than two months ahead of its official opening, 8.5 million tickets have been sold for the food-themed event in the Lombard capital, which runs under the banner 'Feeding the planet, energy for life'. Of these, 5.2 million, or over 60%, have been sold abroad, including about one million in China.

A number of related initiatives have been planned ahead of the world's fair.

An animated movie series dedicated to the event, Expo Show, was presented on Thursday.

The cartoon stars the event's mascot Foody who will have the voice of popular Italian comedian Claudio Bisio.

The animated movie created by Expo with Disney Italia includes in its cast Josephine Banana, Piera the Pear, Rudolph the Fig, Gury the Watermelon, Pomina the Apple and, as the garlic of the show, Guagliò, or boy in Neapolitan dialect.

Tickets are being sold for the 'Zanetti and Friends match for Expo', a soccer game scheduled on May 4 at Milan's San Siro stadium with such soccer heroes as Roberto Baggio and Paolo Maldini, as well as Javier Zanetti, a special ambassador of the world's fair.

The money raised from the match's ticket sales will go to initiatives for children promoted by the Argentine non-profit organization PUPI, which was created by Zanetti with his wife Paula.

Also among special events scheduled to run on the sidelines of the fair are the September fashion shows in Milan, which will include an extra day on the catwalks especially conceived for Chinese designers.

The new schedule is part of fashion-linked initiatives designed to coincide with the world's fair and announced this week by Jane Reeve, chief executive of the governing body of Italian style, the Camera della Moda.

It will coordinate several fashion events open to the public conceived for Expo, including exhibits such as the Tod's-sponsored 'Stardust' on photographer David Bailey that runs through June 2 at contemporary art pavilion PAC.

The world's fair will be inaugurated on the evening of April 30 with a show of Giorgio Armani's haute couture line Armani Prive, which usually premieres in Paris, and the inauguration of his Silos Armani museum.