French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu told his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu that France was always ready to counter “terrorism” and was ready to “broaden contacts to fight this threat as effectively as possible,” the French defense ministry said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that “radical Islamists” carried out a deadly attack on a concert hall in Moscow that killed at least 144 people, but said they were linked to Ukraine.
Lecornu said France had no information linking the terror attack to Ukraine and called on Moscow to “stop instrumentalising” the attack, the Defense Ministry said.
“The minister also unreservedly condemned the war of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine,” the statement said. “France will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary and as much as necessary in its struggle for freedom and sovereignty to guarantee peace and security on the European continent,” the statement said.
The French channel TF1 reports that the conversation took place at the initiative of Paris.
in 2022 The French leader called Putin many times to warn him not to invade Ukraine, and traveled to Moscow earlier that year. He was in contact with Putin by phone even after the invasion began, but the talks stopped after that, with the last time the presidents spoke on the phone in 2022. in September.
In recent months, E. Macron has further tightened his position towards Russia, and has not ruled out the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.
The last phone conversation between S. Lecornu and S. Šoigu took place in 2022. in October
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone in 2023. in April, a month earlier S. Shoigu had a conversation with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Lavrov regularly attends G20 meetings, but there is no indication that he talks directly with Western officials there.
