Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claims France reached out to Moscow to discuss Ukraine, but without including Kyiv in talks.
His remarks would seem to contradict France’s official stance that peace talks should be held on Ukraine’s terms.
“Several times, through closed channels, our French colleagues contacted us … By the way, without Ukraine,” Lavrov said in an interview with several media cited by the RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday.
The French foreign ministry did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
France says it is continuing to “step up support for Ukraine … so that Ukraine can look to the future in the strongest and most favorable possible situation,” a ministry spokesperson said Monday.
In his diplomatic hit-job on Paris, Lavrov blasted what he described as France’s “ambiguous” attitude. He took particular aim at French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to set up a postwar peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
“Such ambiguous behavior does not create a desire to take seriously what is happening at the initiative of our French colleagues,” Lavrov said.
Last month, Macron commented on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by stating that “taking initiatives” was “always positive” but that “no matter what he says, [Putin] does not want peace and is not ready to negotiate.”
Macron said he did not rule out starting a new dialogue with Putin — indeed he was the world leader who went out on a limb in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent a war three years ago — but only “when the context and conditions are appropriate.”
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