Russian President Vladimir Putin (centre) attends a church service for former French President Jacques Chirac at the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris. (Francois Mori/POOL/AFP) Putin, former US president Bill Clinton and other dignitaries joined President Emmanuel Macron for a funeral service at Saint-Sulpice church in Paris, a day after 7,000 people queued to view Chirac’s coffin at Invalides military hospital and museum. Chirac’s death on Thursday aged 86 prompted a flood of tributes to the centre-right politician whose career spanned four decades, capped by 12 years as president from 1995 to 2007. But it also sparked questions about how much the consummate political operator actually achieved and again threw the spotlight on a 2011 conviction for graft over his time as Paris mayor. Speaking to reporters after a commemorative lunch at the Elysee Palace, Clinton recalled Chirac as “always upbeat, always positive, always very French, very protective of French interests but in a way that brought people together not drove them apart.” As NATO allies, the US and France had “made it possible to end the Balkan wars”, he said, adding “I’ll miss Chirac, I liked him and I’ll miss him.” Other world leaders attending the ceremony included Qatar Emir Sheikh…