Russia declares France ‘unfriendly’ country as EU diplomacy collapses
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Paris
After being the West’s only mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, France has just been declared an “unfriendly” country by Russia. The countries and territories mentioned in the list imposed or joined the sanctions against Russia after the start of the military operation in Ukraine.
Russia has announced that - due to their “hostile” actions and commitment to sanctions over the unrest in Ukraine - France has joined the Kremlin’s Western-dominated list of “unfriendly” countries. Russia’s official spokesperson added that discussions between the two are now “unnecessary.”
Moscow’s decision comes after they revealed that there has been no bilateral communications for the past 10 weeks. Since Emmanuel Macron’s re-election, the presidents of the two countries have spoken only twice.
Macron has been the only prominent European leader to regularly engage in diplomacy, but he was widely accused in France of showing such an interest in Ukraine only to avoid campaigning for re-election.
The end of the Paris-Moscow hotline appears to mean that France has joined Washington, London and Brussels as being hard-liners against peaceful diplomacy. Without any diplomatic efforts, it seems that war and sanctions will continue for some time.
This week, French far-right politician Marine Le Pen became the most prominent Western politician to openly call for an end to “useless” sanctions on Russia which are "causing suffering" for Europeans. France is in the middle of its worst drought ever, which is worsening energy, inflation and production crises.
This week, the EU took its first steps to unravel its energy and food sanctions on Russia, stepping back from a campaign which appears to have dramatically backfired.
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