Contents tagged with France

  • French banks refused to issue a credit for the election campaign of Marine Le Pen

    The leader of the National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen, is facing difficulties with financing her campaign for the upcoming presidential elections in France. As the politician herself has said on BFM-TV, she currently lacks about €6 million in funding needed to run a successful campaign.

    "No French bank has agreed to issue a loan for me to conduct an election campaign," the politician said.

    The FN leader noted that "French banks freely lend money to other parties. I regard this as a political …

  • Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expresses outrage over Marine Le Pen’s statements on Crimea

    The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is outraged following the statement of the leader of the far-right party National Front, Marine Le Pen, who is running for president in France, in which she said she supported Russia's annexation of the Crimea. 

    "We remind you that Russia’s actions on this particular matter were strongly condemned by all civilized countries of the world, as supported by the UN General Assembly resolutions of 2014 and 2016, as well as by multiple decisions and documents of the EU, …

  • Ukraine accused France of delaying visa-free regime

    The Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, stated in an interview with Obozrevatel that the implementation of a visa-free policy for Ukrainian citizens has been delayed by France.

    “The delay has occurred due to the position of individual member countries that are having difficulties crossing the psychological boundary regarding visa liberalization with one of the largest countries in Europe. And I would like to mention France. This [the visa-free regime] has to …

  • French media: OSCE accused Russia of cyber-attacks on the servers of the organization's headquarters

    The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe stated that its headquarters in Vienna was subjected to a massive hacker attack. Western security services suspect that the attacks were organized by Moscow, and that Angela Merkel may be the attackers’ main target, Le Monde reported.

    The OSCE officially refuses to make any assumptions about who might be behind the Internet pirates that took advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating systems used by employees of the organization. …

  • France to send soldiers and tanks to Estonia

    Next year France will send 300 servicemen, 5 Leclerc tanks and 13 infantry combat vehicles to Estonia, as stated on Saturday by the Minister of Defense of France, Jean Yves Le Drianto, and the Minister of Defense of Estonia, Hannes Hanso, at a meeting of the security forum in Halifax, Canada, as reported by Estonian public broadcaster, ERR.

    "A trusted, allied relationship will be developed between the countries," the French Minister said.

    "Estonian and French soldiers have been united in …

  • The EU, France and the USA call on Russia to unlock Amnesty International’s office

    The EU expects Russian authorities to urgently reconsider their decision to block a human rights organization’s access to its office. Employees of Amnesty International (AI) in Moscow have no access to their place of work, as reported on Thursday, November 3rd in the statement published on the website of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

    EU diplomats are "in contact with Amnesty International, both with the European headquarters and with staff in Moscow who claim that …

  • Roscosmos requires payment of funds frozen by France in the Yukos case

    The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities refuses to supply Soyuz carrier rockets to the French company Arianespace because of non-payment of 300 million euros. These assets have been blocked by a French court in connection with the Yukos case, the French edition of Les Echos wrote on Friday, October 28th.

    "We do not get money from Arianespace for our work. No money, no product. We cannot work for free," Les Echos stated, quoting the press service of Roscosmos. The said amount was …

  • Klimkin: Elections in the Donbas are a 'distant prospect'

    Holding elections in the Donbas is a distanct prospect, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, to the Verkhovna Rada during an hour of questions to the government on Friday, October 21.

    "As of today, we are very far from being able to move to the question of organizing elections since it is necessary to achieve all the required security needs. And the accomplishment of these conditions will be assessed both by us and the OSCE, in particular, by the Office for …

  • Russia opens Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris valued at EUR 170 million

    The Spiritual and Cultural Center of the Russian Orthodox Church was opened in the heart of Paris on October 19, Radio Svoboda reported. The complex is located near the Eiffel Tower. It includes the Holy Trinity Cathedral with five gilded domes, parochial center, school, cultural center, bookstore, exhibition hall and café.

    According to Radio Svoboda, the Spiritual and Cultural Center of the Russian Orthodox Church, funded by the Kremlin, cost about EUR 170 million. The Spiritual and Cultural …

  • Poroshenko: Russia supported creation of armed OSCE mission in the Donbas

    It was decided during the Berlin meeting of the Normandy Four, which consisted of the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia, that the so-called armed OSCE police mission will be deployed to the Donbas. The mission will ensure that the region will be prepared for the local elections that will be held there. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this at a press conference on the 20th of October after the meeting.

    “We also agreed that no one will interfere with the work of the OSCE. …