Contents tagged with France

  • 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 …

  • Ukrainian MFA: Events in the French Parliament may lead to the lifting of sanctions on Russia

    Officials in the lower house of the French Parliament have put forward a proposal to abandon pressure on Russia through economic sanctions. This may lead to sanctions being lifted altogether.

    The Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration, Olena Zerkal, discussed the issue on Channel 5 on Wednesday. When asked about the prospect of continuing European sanctions against Russia, she responded that she thought “it will not be easy, especially given the recent events that took …

  • France demands that Ukrainian authority be restored in Crimea

    France will not change its position regarding the need to restore Ukrainian authority in Crimea and Kiev's control over the entire Ukrainian-Russian border. The Permanent Representative of France to the UN, Francois Delattre, said this at a formal meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Ukraine, which took place on Thursday night in New York.

    "Settling the crisis in the east of Ukraine is the primary goal for France. Together with Germany, we will continue to mediate the crisis …

  • Media: Hundreds of lawyers worked 'day and night' on appeals in the Yukos case

    Les Echos newspaper reports that hundreds of legal experts, especially in France, worked day and night last year on the appeal that resulted in the Hague District Court’s ruling to overturn the decision for Russia to pay compensation in the amount of $50 billion to the former shareholders of Yukos Oil Company.

    French journalists Valerie de Sennevil and Yves Burdiyon explained in their article "Billions and threats: Yukos story without an ending" that the Tribunal's decision does not mean the …

  • Bank that gave loan to French National Front went bankrupt in Russia

    The Central Bank of the Russian Federation has established an interim administration for the first Czech-Russian bank, which is known for providing loans to the National Front political party (France), headed by Marine Le Pen. “The interim administration will quickly prepare proposals regarding the future activities of the bank,” as reported on the bank’s website.

    Russian media had previously reported on problems at the bank. In particular, on the 13th of March, the daily newspaper Vedomosti …

  • French fighters escorted two Russian Tu-160 bombers flying over English Channel

    According to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, General André Lanata, Chief of Staff of the French Air Force, announced that on February 17th two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers flew over the Channel Tunnel and were immediately escorted by French fighter planes in order to avoid further incident.

    "The aircraft remained over international waters.  They turned back without entering French airspace," Lanata reported.  The General said that the Russian bombers were escorted by Rafale and …

  • Normandy Format Ministers have yet to reach an agreement on the issues of elections in the Donbas

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, stated that he does not feel that any breakthroughs were made during the talks between the Foreign Ministers of the ‘Normandy Four’ countries in Paris, Reuters reports.

    The Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Germany, Russia and France were unable to agree on the key issue of the meeting- the elections in specified districts of the Donbas region.  Germany and France have proposed to hold elections in the first half of 2016.  Moscow, …

  • Mayor of Nice says Crimea is Russian territory during visit by Mayor of Yalta

    The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, met with a delegation from the occupied Crimea and signed a letter of intent with the Administration of Yalta, as stated on Christian Estrosi’s website.

    The delegation of the mayor of Yalta was on an official visit in Nice from February 26 – March 1st. The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to France, Alexander Orlov, was also present at the meeting.

    The delegation’s visit was referred to as symbolic, as it was the "first time since the referendum on …

  • Russia has taken necessary steps to ensure that mistral carrier payments to France weren't expropriated as part of Yukos case

    The Russian Federation has taken necessary steps to make sure that payments "weren't seized as part of the Yukos case expropriation," a source in the military and diplomatic circles said. Paris met Moscow halfway on this matter.

    Funds amounting to one billion Euros, paid by the Russians in advance for the construction of two Mistral helicopter carriers, were returned to Moscow shortly after the cancellation of the contract as reported on Monday, February 22nd, by the Rambler News Service (RNS), …

  • French and German Foreign Ministers visit Kiev

    On the 22nd of February, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany and France, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault, who arrived in Berlin on the same day, flew from the German capital for a two-day visit to Kiev. 

    They flew on board a German governmental plane immediately after a brief meeting and press conference in the departure lounge of the government terminal at the Tegel airport. The negotiating agenda was more than full.

    Firstly, the Special Representative of the OSCE in …