PARIS, May 4. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy in France has viewed a summoning of Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexey Meshkov to the French Foreign Ministry on May 3 as a part of a move coordinated by EU countries, a commentary by the Russian Embassy obtained by TASS on Tuesday said.
"The summoning of the Russian Ambassador to France to the Foreign Ministry is, in our opinion, a part of a move coordinated by EU countries and in many ways repeats what had been said to the Russian representative at the EU," the diplomatic agency noted.
"The ambassador had already submitted explanations on this subject repeatedly voiced by the Russian side. He particularly emphasized that our retaliatory measures were dictated by the European Council’s decisions of March 2 and 22 of this year, when travel to these countries was banned for a whole number of Russian officials. The ambassador also stressed that EU authorities repeatedly ignored Moscow’s calls to reject various sanctions lists, as well as including lawmakers in them," the embassy pointed out.
"As for the April 23 presidential decree, it absolutely clearly defines that corresponding measures will be undertaken precisely as a response to unfriendly actions of foreign states. It only depends on them whether or not to pursue an unfriendly attitude towards Russia," the statement explained.
"In any case, it’s clear that anti-Russian hysteria in Brussels and a number of other European capitals isn’t helping an already complex situation in the relations of Russia and the European Union," the Russian diplomatic agency in Paris emphasized.