Rare phone call between French, Russian defence ministers
France and Russia have had different takeaways from a phone call on Wednesday between French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu – a rare instance of high-level contact between the two countries, whose relationship has been strained by the war in Ukraine.
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Russia said that Shoigu and Lecornu discussed the possibility of talks on the Ukraine conflict, which France immediately denied.
"Readiness for dialogue on Ukraine was noted. The starting points could be based on the Istanbul peace initiative," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement on the unexpected call, which Moscow said was initiated by France
Turkey said last month it was ready to again host a peace summit between Russia and Ukraine, but Kyiv has pushed back at the idea of negotiating directly with Moscow.
A source close to Lecornu quickly denied that France supported the plan.
"France neither accepted nor proposed anything of the sort", the source told the AFP news agency.
The French defence ministry acknowledged the pair discussed the war in Ukraine, but stressed that Lecornu reaffirmed France's support for Kyiv.
"France will continue to support Ukraine as long and as intensely as necessary in its fight for freedom and sovereignty, in order to bring peace and security to the European continent," the French ministry said in a statement.
Moscow attack
Both Russia and France said the two ministers discussed the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall that left at least 144 people dead, which was claimed by Islamic State armed group.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that "radical Islamists" conducted the attack, but suggested they were linked to Ukraine.
According to the Russian defence ministry's statement, Shoigu told Lecornu that he hoped France was not involved.
"The Kyiv regime does nothing without the approval of Western curators. We trust that in this case French special services are not behind it," Shoigu was quoted as saying.
Lecornu said that France had no information to establish a link to Ukraine, calling on Moscow "to stop all instrumentalisation" of the attack, the French defence ministry said.
On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed Shoigu's suggestion that France was behind the attack as "ridiculous".
“It makes no sense and doesn’t fit with reality,” he told reporters, adding that the suggestion was "baroque and threatening, which is nothing new", and a "manipulation of information, which is part of Russia’s arsenal of warfare today.”
The French defence ministry did say that Lecornu told Shoigu that France is prepared for “increased exchanges" with Russia to fight "terrorism", following the attack.
Macron said in March that France had offered Russian security services "increased cooperation" with contact on a "technical and ministerial level" rather than direct talks with Putin.
Rare contact
Lecornu and Shoigu last held phone talks in October 2022, following a series of phone calls between Macron and Putin, the last of which was in September of that year.
Macron has in recent months toughened his line against Russia, refusing to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call in April 2023.
Lavrov regularly travels to G20 meetings, but there is no indication he speaks directly with Western officials there.
(with AFP)
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