The French defense minister talked to Shoigu on the phone

In an interview with France 24, Lecornu expressed France’s solidarity with the victims of the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Krasnogorsk, a suburb of Moscow. Almost 150 people died there last month, the French Ministry of Defense said.

He also told Shoigu, with whom he last spoke on the phone in October 2022, that France was always ready to face “terrorism” and was ready for “a more intensive exchange of views with the aim of combating this threat as effectively as possible”.

“However, France will continue to support Ukraine as long and as intensively as necessary in its struggle for freedom and sovereignty to bring peace and security to the European continent,” Lecornu reminded the Russian defense minister, according to France 24.

Photo: Profimedia.cz

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu

The terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the bloodiest attack in Russia in the last 20 years. However, Moscow continues to seek connections between the attackers and Ukraine, and thus the West. This was denied by Kyiv and its Western allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that the IS branch that claimed responsibility for the attack near Moscow had recently tried to carry out several similar actions in France as well.

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Europe

Macron said in March that Paris had offered “increased cooperation” to Russian security services. He added that there would be contact at a “technical and ministerial level” rather than direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

France, the sole holder of nuclear weapons in the European Union, has escalated its rhetoric towards Moscow in recent weeks and announced new military aid to Ukraine.

According to Lecornu, Paris will supply Kyiv with hundreds of older armored vehicles, new surface-to-air missiles, dozens of Caesar howitzers and 80,000 pieces of artillery ammunition.

President Macron also mentioned as a possibility that France could be forced to deploy its troops in Ukraine in a certain situation.