Dialogue is broken between Paris and Moscow. It is no longer in France's interest to "discuss with Russian officials", French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné declared on Monday after a recent telephone conversation between Russian and French army ministers which took place resulted in divergent accounts.
“It is not our interest today to discuss with Russian officials since the press releases that come out, the reports that are made are false,” Stéphane Séjourné declared to the media France 24 and RFI from Abidjan, where the minister was completing a tour in Africa.
After a conversation on Wednesday between Defense Ministers Sébastien Lecornu and Sergueï Choïgu which aimed to transmit “useful information” to the Russians on the Moscow attack, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced “baroque and threatening comments” on Thursday. Russians.
In its report of the interview, launched by Paris, Russia notably said it “hoped” that the French secret services were not involved in this attack which left 144 dead on March 22. Speculations denied by Paris.
Confidence to be reestablished
Before we can talk to the Russians again, “we must perhaps first establish trust, perhaps above all have developments on the military ground in Ukraine so that relations can be renewed. This is not still the case today,” said Stéphane Séjourné.
Emmanuel Macron justified the initiative of the exchange between French and Russian ministers, the first since October 2022, by the fact that France had precisely “useful information” to transmit “on the origins and organization of this attack » Claimed by the Islamic State (IS) organization.
According to Stéphane Séjourné, the “long tradition of cooperation with Russia in matters of terrorism” is now at a standstill. “In fact, it does not continue because it was a proposal and the Russian communiqué in reality, in Russian language, proposes that we do not have cooperation,” he concluded.