Moscow has confirmed its intention to cooperate with Paris in the field of foreign and defense policy as closely as the French side is ready for this. Such a statement was made by the head of the Russian military department, Sergei Shoigu, during a meeting with his French colleague Florence Parly. Shoigu also noted that the French side presented a number of proposals for cooperation in the military sphere, which could be implemented in the near future and recalled that earlier the presidents of Russia and France Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron agreed to resume contacts between the defense departments at their meeting in Fort de Brégançon. According to experts, there really are many issues on which Paris and Moscow can effectively cooperate. Among them, analysts called the fight against terrorism, the settlement of conflicts in Ukraine, Syria and Libya.

Shoigu also invited the French military delegation to take part in the Victory Day parade on Red Square on May 9, 2020. Earlier, the invitation to attend this event was accepted by Emmanuel Macron. “We will be glad to see Madame Parly and the French military at the parade on Red Square in honor of the 75th anniversary of our common victory over fascism,” the Russian defense minister said. The theme of common efforts in the fight against Nazism was also raised when Parly donated to Minister Shoigu a photograph of the Normandie-Niémen French air regiment, published in the Le Point magazine in June 1944. In response, the head of the Russian military department presented his French counterpart with a fresh issue of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, which published a photograph of the pilots of this regiment, taken on January 1, 1943.

French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly, in turn, stated that “there are many geostrategic challenges in which France and Russia have common interests. Of course, we do not agree with each other on all issues, but this is precisely what prompts us to strengthen dialogue.”

Il reste 57 % de l'article à lire