Russia on Friday summoned the French ambassador to Moscow following “unacceptable” comments by French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Sejourne on Monday said that France had no interest in talking to the Kremlin, a few days after a telephone conversation between Russian and French army ministers ended in divergent accounts.
French ambassador Pierre Levy “was informed about the unacceptable character of such statements, which have nothing to do with reality,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, denouncing a “deliberate act” that “aimed to undermine the possibility of any dialogue between the two countries”.
A French diplomatic source told AFP on Friday: “The Russian ministry, as usual, does not accept that we correct its lies.
“The minister recalled the reality of the exchanges and the Russian authorities’ attempt at manipulation following the call from the armed forces minister.”
It is the latest in series of spats between the two countries, whose relations have deteriorated since the start of the year, against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine.
After a conversation between the two countries’ defence ministers on April 3, Russia said it “hoped” that the French secret services were not involved in the Moscow concert hall attack claimed by Islamic State group, which killed 144 people on March 22.
France had initiated the meeting in a bid to pass on “useful information” to Russia about the attack.
French president Emmanuel Macron reacted angrily to the Russian suggestion, denouncing “baroque and threatening comments”.
In January, Russia claimed to have killed 60 French “mercenaries” in Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine, while Paris denounced “a coordinated manoeuvre” of disinformation emanating from Moscow.
Russia also announced that it had summoned Slovenian ambassador Darja Bavdaz Kuret on Friday to notify her of the expulsion of a Slovenian diplomat “in return” for a similar decision taken by Ljubljana in March against a Russian representative.
On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had done the same with Austrian ambassador Werner Almhofer following the expulsion of two Russian diplomats by Vienna. Moscow expelled an Austrian diplomat in response.
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