Until now, Macron would have sent troops, now he wants to help the Russians, something like this has not happened in two years.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu telephoned his Russian counterpart, Sergey Soygu, to whom he expressed his condolences regarding the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, Le Monde .
In addition, Lecornu assured Sojgu that France has always been ready to face terrorism and is ready for an increased exchange of ideas, the aim of which is to fight the threat as effectively as possible, according to the statement of the French Ministry of Defense, which was seen by France24.
As the paper informs: Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that radical Islamists carried out the bloody attack on the Moscow concert venue, which left at least 144 dead, but suggested that they were connected to Ukraine.
Lecornu said France had no information linking the terrorist attack to Ukraine and called on Moscow to "cease any instrumentalization of the attack," the defense ministry said.
"The minister also unreservedly condemned the war of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine," the statement said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in March that Paris had offered increased cooperation to Russian security services, adding that
"technical and ministerial-level" contact will take place, rather than direct negotiations with Putin.
In a series of phone calls in 2022, the French head of state tried to warn Putin not to invade Ukraine, and even at the beginning of the year he traveled to Moscow. Even after the start of the invasion, he maintained telephone contact with Putin, but the negotiations have now ceased, the last telephone conversation between the presidents was in September 2022.
Cover photo: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
Source: Handout/AFP
