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Manila Bulletin devider World devider France summons Russian envoy over slain aid workers

France summons Russian envoy over slain aid workers

Published Feb 6, 2024 12:45 am

Moscow, Russia - The Russian ambassador to France was summoned to the French foreign ministry on Monday over the deaths of two French aid workers last week in Ukraine, Moscow said.

Tensions have risen between Moscow and Paris in recent days, with the Russian government blasting France for announcing new arms deliveries to Ukraine.

"The Russian Ambassador in Paris, Alexey Meshkov, was summoned to the French foreign ministry... over the deaths in Ukraine of two French citizens," Moscow's foreign ministry said in a statement after the summoning.

In the same statement, it accused Paris of sending "increasingly destructive and lethal weapons" to Ukraine, and denounced what it called Paris's "ever deeper involvement in the Ukrainian conflict".

A diplomatic source told AFP earlier that the French side planned to "denounce reinforced disinformation targeting France" in its meeting with the Russian envoy.

The two aid workers were killed on Thursday in a strike on Beryslav, a small Ukrainian town close to the frontline on the north bank of the river Dnipro, France's foreign ministry said on Friday.

Three more French citizens were injured in the attack, the ministry added.

Paris called the strike an act of "barbarism" and French terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation.

The latest dispute follows Russia's claim last month that it killed dozens of "French mercenaries" and wounded more in a strike on Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

Although Paris has denied the allegation, lists of people supposedly killed in the attack were spread widely by pro-Russian social media accounts.

AFP was able to track down three French volunteers fighting in Ukraine who confirmed they were still alive, despite being on the lists.

Russian Ambassador Alexey Meshkov had been summoned to the foreign ministry twice before, including soon after Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine.

President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Kyiv this month, in an event that Paris believes could be the target for further disinformation attacks.


 

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