2024-04-05 09:03:48
On Wednesday, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lacorny contacted his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu for the first time since 2022, stating in the conversation that France is ready to strengthen contacts to fight terrorism, the French Ministry of Defense reports.
The Olympic Games are planned for the summer in Paris, and France is putting a lot of effort into organizing this ambitious event.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Shoigu expressed his “hope” in the hour-long telephone conversation that the French secret services were not connected to the recent attack on a concert hall in Moscow Region, for which the terrorist group “Islamic State” claimed responsibility.
“The comments from the Russian side were strange and threatening,” Macron told reporters, commenting on the absurd statement from Moscow, adding that any suggestion that France could be involved in the terrorist attack was ridiculous.
Macron explained that France contacted Russia because Paris has useful information about the origin and organization of this attack. He did not reveal to the journalists what information it was about.
“It is ridiculous to claim that France is behind it, that the Ukrainians are behind it. It makes no sense. It does not correspond to reality, it is a manipulation of information that is part of Russia’s war arsenal,” Macron emphasized.
Some political analysts saw the defense minister’s phone call as a change of course in Macron’s approach to Russia, given that the president has taken an increasingly tough line against Moscow in recent months, refusing to rule out the deployment of troops to Ukraine.
Macron today tried to defend contacts with Russia. “We will work together with all those affected by terrorism. And when we have information, we will share,” he added.
At the same time, the owner of the Elysee Palace said he had “no doubt” that one of Russia’s targets was the Paris Olympics, which could suffer from Moscow’s disinformation campaign, among other things.
After the phone conversation between Lacorny and Shoigu, Moscow announced that it “mentioned readiness for dialogue on Ukraine”. France immediately rejected the claim.
“France has neither accepted nor proposed anything like that,” a source close to Lacorny told the AFP news agency.
2024-04-05 09:03:48