Contents tagged with France

  • The French Foreign Ministry condemned French Parliament's intention to visit Crimea

    Paris called the French Parliament’s intention to visit the occupied Crimea an “illegal initiative” which has “nothing to do with the position of the French Foreign Ministry, the European Union or the entire international community.” This was stated by the French Foreign Ministry spokesman, Romain Nadal, UKRINFORM reports.

    “The French position is clear and consistent: together with the European Union and the entire international community, France does not recognize the illegal annexation of …

  • Polish media: French-German superpower will replace the European Union

    Polish State Channel TVP has claimed that Germany and France have grandiose aspirations. Both nations are allegedly attempting to create a new European superpower to rival the European Union. Polish journalists based their allegations on a document prepared by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany and France, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault, respectively.

    The project should be presented at the meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the Visegrad Four countries, the Czech …

  • Media: The next Normandy Format meeting could be held before the NATO Summit

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande want to hold a meeting in Minsk with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to revive the process of implementing the Minsk Agreements, reported the German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung, citing sources in the German government.

    According to the newspaper, serious efforts are being made to arrange a new Minsk meeting. The newspaper quoted Merkel, who said at a recent meeting with the Prime …

  • Poroshenko to meet with Hollande in Paris

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will travel to France to meet with his French counterpart François Hollande, where the two leaders plan to discuss bilateral relations, sanctions against Russia, ending the war in the Donbas, and restoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Ukrinform reported citing diplomatic sources.

    Poroshenko will meet with Hollande on Tuesday, June 21st.

    The Ukrainian President is also scheduled to meet with the Chairmen of both chambers of the …

  • Head of Crimea thanks French investor for French Senate's call to lift sanctions on Russia

    The head of Russian-Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, while speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, thanked the President of French investment company Thomas Vendome, Jean-Pierre Thomas, for "his fundamentally friendly attitude" toward Russia and the Crimea. This was reported by the press service of Sergey Aksyonov.

    "In many ways, his [Jean-Pierre Thomas’s] personal position played an important role in the decision of the Parliament of France to ease sanctions against Russia. When …

  • Le Figaro: France has adopted the so-called 'Putin's Amendment'

    Members of the National Assembly have voted for the second “Sapin Law”, which is aimed at modernizing the economic life of France. In addition, members catered to Russia by adopting an amendment which protects the property of foreign states and companies against confiscation.

    According to Fabrice Nodé-Langlois of Le Figaro, this amendment is known as “Putin’s amendment” in France as it is adopted at a time when the property of the Russian Federation and Russian state-owned companies is …

  • Kiev calls on France to refrain from easing sanctions on Russia

    The call of the French Senate to gradually ease the sanctions against the Russian Federation may indicate that its senators have not understood the depth of Russia’s violation of international law. This information was mentioned in the comment of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the resolution of the French Parliament on June 8th.

    “We understand that this document is declarative and non-binding. At the same time, we should note that respect for sovereignty and territorial …

  • French Senate proposes lifting sanctions on Russia

    The French Senate appealed to the government of France to gradually lift economic sanctions against Russia, Evropeyskaya Pravda reported. The decision was made at the evening session after a 4-hour discussion where 302 senators voted in favor while 16 voted against.

    While the decision has no binding power over the government of France, it is nevertheless a political position that puts forward the recommendations of the Parliament. Evropeyskaya Pravda noted that the final wording of the …

  • First mistral class carrier, initially built for Russia, arrives in Egypt

    One of the two mistral class helicopter carriers originally built for Russia by France was transferred to Egypt, the radio station France Bleu reported.

    A ceremony took place in the port of Saint-Nazaire, during which an Egyptian flag was raised above the ship.The second ship will be delivered in September. This was previously reported by French military expert Philippe Chapleau, who also said that the mistral carriers were given Egyptian names.

    "The former 'Sevastopol' and 'Vladivostok' will …

  • Despite sanctions banning his entry, Russian Agricultural Minister was admitted to the EU

    Even though the Russian Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Tkachyov, is on the EU sanctions list, French authorities have issued him an entry visa. The press service of the Ministry reported this on the 23rd of May.

    Tkachyov was placed on the list in mid-2014 in connection with Russia’s annexation of Crimea. At that time, he was the governor of the Krasnodar Krai.

    French authorities have not yet given a reason as to why they issued a visa to Tkachyov.

    Tkachyov headed the Russian delegation …