The French Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador on Monday over the death of two French “humanitarian workers” in Ukraine and disinformation campaigns targeting France, writes the European edition of Politico.
A ministry official said the meeting would take place “during the day” on Monday. Last Thursday, two Frenchmen were killed in a Russian airstrike near the front line north of the Dnieper River.
“Russian barbarism targets civilians in Ukraine. Two French aid workers paid for their commitment with their lives. Three others were injured,” France’s recently appointed foreign minister Stephane Sejournet wrote in X on Friday. “Russia will have to answer for his crimes,” he added.
The escalation of tensions between France and Russia comes as French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Kiev in the coming weeks.
On Friday, a foreign ministry spokesman also condemned the “intensification of Russian malicious activities” against France.
“Russia is multiplying its disinformation operations, whether it’s mercenaries in Ukraine, the Belgorod plane crash. Or even less recently the creation of a duplicate of the Foreign Ministry website,” said deputy spokesman Christophe Lemoine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that those killed last month in the Kharkiv region were French mercenaries. Paris categorically denied any such French presence. “Unlike others, France does not employ mercenaries,” Defense Minister Sébastien Lecorneau said at the time.
2024-02-05 11:48:47
#Paris #summoned #Russian #ambassador #deaths
