Moscow [Russia], April 4: Russia said it had had ministerial-level discussions with France about the possibility of negotiating the conflict in Ukraine, but Paris immediately denied this information.
On April 3, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Minister Sergei Shoigu had a rare phone call with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu during the day, in which the two sides noted their readiness for dialogue on Ukraine . According to AFP, the Russian side said the call was proposed by France, in which the two ministers talked about the possibility of dialogue that "the starting point could be based on the Istanbul peace initiative".
Turkey was the country that organized peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine during the beginning of the conflict. Ankara said in March that it was ready to hold a peace summit between the two sides, but Kyiv said it did not want to negotiate directly with Moscow.
The French Ministry of Defense admitted that the two ministers discussed Ukraine but emphasized that Mr. Lecronu reaffirmed France's support for Ukraine.
AFP quoted a source close to Minister Lecornu as saying that France did not accept or propose anything about the conflict. On the other hand, Minister Shoigu warned that France would be in trouble if it sent troops to Ukraine as previously announced by President Emmanuel Macron.
According to the official statement, both ministers discussed the attack in Moscow that the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for in March. France and many Western countries also condemned the incident. This.
Mr. Lecornu said that France is always ready to deal with terrorism and is prepared to "strengthen exchanges to combat this threat as effectively as possible." However, he affirmed that France firmly condemns Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
Despite IS claiming responsibility, Russia still suspects Ukraine and the West may have been involved in the attack, something the US and Ukraine have denied. A statement from the Russian side said Minister Shoigu hoped France would not be involved in the terrorist incident.
"The Kyiv regime does nothing without approval from Western administrators. We believe that in this case, French special forces are not behind it," Minister Shoigu said.
Minister Lecornu said France has no information to believe that Ukraine was involved in the attack and called on Russia to stop taking advantage of this.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper