MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Paris has violated the confidentiality of talks between Russian and French Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, which reveals France’s approaches to diplomacy in principle, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.
"When calls at the top level are made <…>, naturally, it is a confidential story, <…> naturally, these are talks behind closed doors. It turned out that a couple of months ago, when Macron called the Russian president, <…> the entire conversation was recorded by journalists, who were filming it. <…> This is an example that they interpret the word ‘diplomacy’ this very way," she said in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher (Sunday Evening) program on the Rossiya-1 television channel, commenting on French film director Guy Lagache‘s Un President, l’Europe et la guerre (President, Europe and the war) documentary about Macron’s steps toward the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.
She noted that Paris had eight years to "demonstrate marvels of its professionalism" while working on the Minsk agreements within the Normandy format. "Zero, as you’ve seen," she said.
According to Zakharova, France is attributing diplomatic functions to the instruments that have nothing to do with diplomacy that its why its foreign policy measures turn out to be ineffective. "For eight year, no effort has been spared not to let the side called the ‘Kiev regime’ implement the Minsk agreements. The Ukrainian side was been pandered to not to let the peace scenario be implemented," she said, adding that now no one can expect the French side to maintain confidentiality.
Lagache’s documentary was shown by France 2 TV on Thursday. The film focuses on Macron’s diplomatic efforts toward setting the Ukrainian crisis, including his talks with the Russian president and other leaders.