Russia said on Wednesday, April 9 that he was waiting for “explanations” from France after a Russian government employee was arrested for hours at an airport in Paris in what he called a “shameful show.” The employee, whom Russia did not appoint, worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and arrived in France on Sunday as part of an official delegation, Moscow said. He said that the French border police confiscated his telephone and computer when landing and kept it on hold in border control for hours, although they had received a French visa.
“What happened on April 6 at Charles de Gaulle airport has no explanation,” said the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, during a weekly press conference. “The Russian embassy immediately sent a consular officer to the airport. Our diplomat had almost seven hours to access its colleague, which had arrived in France as part of an official delegation,” he added. “We don’t intend to leave this without consequences,” he said.
There was no immediate response from Paris.
‘Totally unacceptable’
The ties between France and Russia have sunk at new depths in recent weeks, since Moscow points to the criticisms of the French president Emmanuel Macron on the support of Ukraine. Both Russia and France have expelled diplomat boxes from the other country since the Moscow Ukraine offensive began more than three years ago.
The Kremlin described the “totally unacceptable” arrest and said “would further aggravated” ties between Moscow and Paris. Russia said he had sent a protest note to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and summoned to the French ambassador to Moscow.
Currently, Moscow owns French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, in jail on what Paris says they are “arbitrary” charges.
Recent realignment about the Ukraine conflict
The Kremlin has recently redirected a large part of its anger by the Ukraine conflict towards Europe and far from the United States, which seeks warmer ties with Moscow. Meanwhile, France has been a firm sponsor of Ukraine and floated the idea of depending on the peace forces in the country as part of a future peace settlement, a proposal that Russia says it would be equivalent to an act of war.
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Macron accused Russia on Monday or “storage tactics” after he rejected an American-cultural proposal for a high fire and establishes conditions for a truce in the Black Sea. The French leader on Sunday asked “strong action” if Russia continued “to reject peace”, days after a Russian ballistic missile killed nine children in the hometown of the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
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