PARIS, February 8. /TASS/. Russia sees no signs of improvement in ties with France at the interstate level, but a dialogue is being maintained at the regional level, Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexey Meshkov said, answering a question from a TASS correspondent.

"At the moment, we do not see any signs of a dramatic improvement in ties, while some contacts are being maintained. First of all, at the regional level; cultural ties have also begun to revive. But nothing is happening on a global, across-the-board level," the head of the diplomatic mission said at a ceremony in honor of 19th-century Russian Imperial Ambassador to France Karl Osipovich Potso di Borgo (also known as Carlo Pozzo di Borgo), which took place at the ancient Parisian cemetery of Pere Lachaise. The event was held on the eve of Diplomatic Worker's Day, which is celebrated in Russia on February 10.

According to Meshkov, the experience of Pozzo di Borgo plays an important role for Russian diplomacy in the current difficult times for bilateral ties between the two countries. "Carlo Pozzo di Borgo worked here for a long time, representing the Russian Empire. He went through very difficult times: both the Napoleonic Wars and the coups that happened later in France. He really served Russia faithfully, even though [ethnically] he was a Corsican," the diplomat said.

Carlo Pozzo di Borgo was born in 1764 in Corsica. Despite the fact that his family had ties with the family of Napoleon Bonaparte, after the War of independence of Corsica they found themselves in a precarious state of hostility. In 1804, he entered the diplomatic service of the Russian Empire, under the reign of Emperor Alexander I (1777-1825). From 1814 to 1835, Pozzo di Borgo headed the Russian Embassy in Paris, which was the longest tenure for a single ambassador in the entire 300-year history of bilateral ties between Russia and France.