MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Moscow and Paris will overcome the current crisis in relations, although a return to former models of cooperation is hardly possible, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Whatever challenges Russian-French relations may still face, the French people will have their say, and our countries will overcome the current crisis. A return to previous principles and models of cooperation now seems unlikely, as trust has been seriously and permanently damaged," the ministry stated.
"Western dominance is a thing of the past. By clinging to it, France risks being sidelined in the historical process. The sooner Paris realizes this, the better it will be for France and the French," the ministry added.
The agency added that, following the revolutionary events in Russia in 1917, diplomatic relations were severed. However, on October 28, 1924, French Prime Minister Edouard Herriot sent a telegram to Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the USSR Central Executive Committee, expressing readiness to normalize relations by exchanging ambassadors. Since the USSR’s collapse, bilateral relations have been shaped by the 1992 treaty between Russia and France, which committed both countries to developing relations based on trust, solidarity, and cooperation.
"It is even more disappointing that, following Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014, the French authorities - disregarding Gaullist traditions and the interests of their own citizens - not only joined the anti-Russian sanctions but, along with Germany, engaged in a superficial diplomatic attempt to resolve the Ukraine crisis, which ultimately led to Kiev's complete obstruction of the Minsk agreements," the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized. "Since the start of the special military operation, Paris has become one of the most fervent supporters of the West’s hybrid war against Russia. It is difficult to recognize the former France in its current, externally influenced stance, which promotes Russophobia, arms the Kiev regime, and even discusses sending Western troops to Ukraine."