PARIS (Reuters) – Russia’s ambassador to France, Alexei Mechkov, was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry on Monday following the death of two French aid workers in Russian strikes in Ukraine on February 2, confirmed the Quai d’Orsay.
“On this occasion, France will reiterate its strong condemnation of the Russian strikes which killed two French nationals working for a non-governmental humanitarian organization in Ukraine and injured three other of our nationals,” said the deputy spokesperson for the ministry during a briefing.
“She will also denounce the resurgence of disinformation targeting France,” he added.
The Russian attack last Thursday on the town of Berislav, in southern Ukraine, killed two French people and injured three others.
The two victims were members of Swiss Protestant Entraide (EPER), the NGO said on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected in Ukraine at the end of the month, then denounced “a cowardly and unworthy act”.
Already frosty as the war in Ukraine approaches its second anniversary, relations between Paris and Moscow have deteriorated further in recent weeks, with France having strengthened its support for Ukraine, notably by promising to send Kyiv missiles. Additional long-range cruise.
France accuses Russia of regularly spreading false information. At the end of January, Paris denied the alleged presence of French mercenaries in Ukraine. Paris also accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of spreading disinformation by suggesting that missiles that downed a Russian plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war could have come from a French air defense system.
(Reporting John Irish, written by Jean Terzian and Sophie Louet, editing by Kate Entringer)
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