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RIA Novosti
The Minister of foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday will visit Moscow, where he will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. It is expected that the meeting will covered a wide range of topics — the situation in Syria, Libya, North Korea and in the East of Ukraine, as well as a number of bilateral issues.
According to the statement, the French foreign Ministry, Moscow and Paris are “open and at the same time demanding for political Affairs dialogue.”
As previously reported by RIA Novosti Deputy foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov, Lavrov and Le Drian will speak on “all of the most hot topics, because Russia and France are permanent members of the UN security Council”. According to him, one of the topics of the talks will be and Ukraine, since both countries are included in the “channel format”.
The foreign Ministry of France announced that another theme will be the situation in Libya, where Le Drian visited on 4 September.
Contact on Syria
One of the topics of the talks will be the initiative of Paris for the establishment of a contact group on Syria. Earlier, the French leader Emmanuel macron said that the first meeting of this kind should be held during the UN General Assembly in September.
As reported by RIA Novosti source in the Russian foreign Ministry, Russia was invited to participate in the work of the group. However, what is the new mechanism is yet to be seen in Moscow expect to receive on Friday from French colleagues all the explanations.
“The situation in Syria and especially the composition of the international contact group to advance in the direction of the resolution of the Syrian conflict will also be on the agenda,” said French diplomats.
The Korean Peninsula
The situation on the Korean Peninsula will also be discussed at the meeting of senior diplomats.
The DPRK Sunday announced the successful test of a hydrogen warhead, which is designed to equip Intercontinental ballistic missiles. It was the sixth nuclear test of North Korea. Japan lodged a strong protest and intends to pursue the early convening of the UN security Council. A week ago, the DPRK tested a ballistic missile that flew over Japan.
In particular, Le Drian intends to discuss with Lavrov “a resolution of the UN security Council to increase pressure on the regime” of North Korea.
Security in Europe
“Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss with his counterpart the issues of security and stability in Europe, especially the situation in the East of Ukraine, in continuation of the last conversation of the heads of state “channel format” on the 22nd of August 2017,” — said the French foreign Ministry.
The Ukrainian authorities in April 2014 began a military operation against the breakaway LC and the DNI, which declared independence after a coup in Ukraine in February 2014. According to the latest UN victims of the conflict began more than 10 thousand people.
The contact group on settling the situation in Eastern Ukraine earlier in Minsk have agreed on a new ceasefire in the Donbass from midnight on 25 August. This is the fifth from the beginning, the attempt of the parties to cease fire and the third — with the beginning of the conflict in order to ensure conditions of peace on 1 September.
Bilateral issues
In addition to international issues, Le Drian and foreign Minister Lavrov will discuss a number of bilateral issues, in particular, “the implementation of the Franco-Russian forum of civil societies or “Trianon dialogue.”
“In the framework of the will as expressed in the French and Russian presidents, this dialogue will enable young people, economic, cultural, artistic and intellectual players from Russia and France to get to know each other, to overcome possible misunderstandings”, — said in a communique of the French foreign Ministry.
The Russian foreign Ministry ahead of the visit, Le Drian in Moscow said that “France has always been and remains an important partner of Russia.”
“Our countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and as such, they bear special responsibility for maintaining international security and stability. The joint efforts of the two States can significantly reduce tension in European Affairs and in a more global way, not to mention the many regional crises, whose resolution one way or another involved Russia and France,” — noted in the foreign Ministry.
France with the arrival of Emmanuel Macron to the position of President seems to have returned to the “club” active foreign players, which left with the previous leader, françois Hollande. It concerns and the Russian direction of its policy in may and twice met the foreign Ministers of the two countries, and by heads of state (in Versailles and Hamburg in the margins of the G20 summit).
It is possible that before the end of the year we can expect a return visit of the French President to Russia. As reported by RIA Novosti press-Secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, the date of the visit of the President of France Emmanuel Makron in Russia is not yet defined, the invitation was sent.