French FM suggests halting talks with Russia, saying such engagement no longer in country's interest

Talks with Russian representatives are not in the French interests at the moment, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné in an interview for RFI and France.

This comes after the Kremlin distorted the content of the conversation between Defense Ministers Sébastien Lecornu and Sergei Shoigu.

"I don't think it's in our interests now to discuss something with Russian leaders. Because the press releases and reports [about the content of the talks] that they submit are lies," said the French diplomat.

First of all, trust must be restored between the countries, and "developments on the battlefield in Ukraine" must be seen, which would contribute to the restoration of interstate relations.

"Today there is none of that," Séjourné concluded.

On April 3, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France, Sébastien Lecornu, had a telephone conversation with his Russian "colleague" Shoigu.

The French Defense Ministry claimed that during the conversation with Shoigu, Lecornu expressed "strong condemnation" of the attack by the Islamic State on a concert hall in the Moscow suburbs on March 22 and expressed "solidarity" with the victims and their families.

Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that Lecornu, during a conversation with Shoigu, expressed readiness for a dialogue regarding the war in Ukraine. Reuters, citing unnamed sources among French officials, denied these statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense, calling them "false".