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![]() France |
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Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of France, Moscow | Embassy of Russia, Paris |
Envoy | |
Ambassador Pierre Lévy | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Aleksey Meshkov |
France–Russia relations, also known as Franco-Russian relations or Russo-French relations, (French: Relations entre la France et la Russie, Russian: Российско-французские отношения, Rossiysko-frantsuzskiye otnosheniya) have seldom been friendly.
In the 18th century Russia imported French intellectuals, most of whom were negative about the little-known land. During the Napoleonic era (1800-1815), both nations wanted to dominate Central and Eastern Europe. Napoleon launched a massive invasion of Russia in 1812, but it failed and led to his defeat and Russian dominance in Eastern Europe. Russia also wanted to dominate the Ottoman Empire, but France and Britain fought and won the Crimean War (1854–1856) to prevent that. In the 1890s France was diplomatically isolated and built an alliance with Russia and Britain. That alliance went to war with Germany in 1914–1918. In 1917, Russia underwent a Revolution leading to Bolsheviks (Communists) taking control and signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Central Powers in 1918. In the 1930s, France was unable to forge an alliance against a resurgent Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union and the United States were the remaining superpowers after 1945, but they faced off in a long Cold War, 1947–1989. France supported the United States in the NATO alliance against Communist expansion. Since 1989 relations have been proper but not warm, with several issues marring relations such as the War in Donbas (which evolved into the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine) and Russia's increasing involvement in West Africa.
According to a 2017 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 36% of French people have a favorable view of Russia, with 62% expressing an unfavorable view.[1] A 2018 opinion poll published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center shows that 81% of Russians have a favorable view of France, with 19% expressing a negative opinion.[2]
Country comparison
Official name | French Republic | Russian Federation |
Flag | ![]() |
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Coat of Arms | ![]() |
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Anthem | La Marseillaise | Госудáрственный гимн Росси́йской Федерáции |
National day | 14 July | 12 June |
Capital city | Paris | Moscow |
Largest city | Paris – 2,175,601 (12,628,266 Metro) | Moscow – 12,506,468 (20,000,000 Metro) |
Population | 67,445,000 | 143,759,000 |
Population density | 118/km2 | 9/km2 |
Government | Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic | Federal semi-presidential republic |
Head of State | Emmanuel Macron | Vladimir Putin |
Head of Government | Élisabeth Borne | Mikhail Mishustin |
Official language | French (de facto and de jure) | Russian |
Main religions | 47% Christianity
40% No religion 5% Islam 8% Other |
74% Christianity
15% No religion 10% Islam 1% Other |
Current Constitution | 4 October 1958 | 25 December 1993 |
Area | 640,679 km2 (247,368 sq mi) | 17,098,246 km2 (6,601,670 sq mi) |
EEZ | 11,691,000 km2 (4,514,000 sq mi) | 7,566,673 km2 (2,921,509 sq mi) |
Time zones | 12 | 11 |
GDP (nominal) | $2.938 trillion | $1.710 trillion |
GDP (nominal) per capita | $44,995 | $11,654 |
GDP (PPP) | $3.231 trillion | $4.328 trillion |
GDP (PPP) per capita | $49,492 | $29,485 |
HDI | 0.901 | 0.824 |
Currency | Euro and CFP franc | Russian ruble |
History
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20220715062528im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Vladimir_Putin_and_Emmanuel_Macron_%282017-07-08%29_01.jpg/220px-Vladimir_Putin_and_Emmanuel_Macron_%282017-07-08%29_01.jpg)
Due to the fact that the Russian centralized state, formed in the 15th-16th centuries, was almost constantly in a state of diplomatic and military confrontation with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Catholic rulers of France for a long time avoided establishing direct diplomatic contacts with Moscow.
Real interest in Russia appeared in France only after the publication, in 1607, of the work of Huguenot mercenary Jacques Margeret, "The State of the Russian State and the Grand Duchy of Moscow", information from which was used in the "History of his time" (1620) by the famous historian Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553–1617).
In 1615, the embassy of Ivan Kondyrev was adopted at the court of Louis XIII, which ended in failure, but laid the foundation for diplomatic relations between Russia and France.
In the summer of 1668, the Russian embassy headed by the steward Pyotr Potemkin, who had an audience with Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert and discussed the establishment of mutually beneficial trade relations between the two countries, travelled from Spain to Paris.
The first diplomatic representation of Russia in France appeared in 1702 by decree of Peter I, who was interested in an alliance with Louis XIV due to the rapprochement between England and Sweden. A visit to France by Peter I himself in 1717 served as the starting point for the establishment of permanent diplomatic relations between the two countries, interrupted only by the Great French Revolution.
Concerned about the dominance of the Germans at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740), French diplomacy actively promoted the palace coup of 1741 and the enthronement of Elizabeth Petrovna, who from her youth sympathized with France and its king Louis XV, whom she had unsuccessfully tried to marry. An active role was played by the Marquis de la Chétardie, who served as diplomatic envoy to the Russian court from 1739 to 1744. However, after the efforts of Chancellor Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, de la Chétardie fell into disgrace and in 1748, the influence of the pro-French party weakened noticeably.
18th century
Franco-Russian diplomatic ties go back to 1702, when France Jean Casimir Baluze as ambassador and the Tsar sent Peter Postnikov to Paris. France was the dominant nation in Western Europe and Russia in Eastern Europe, so their interests seldom overlapped. When involved in the same war, their troops rarely fought together as allies or directly against each other as enemies on the same battlefields. There was some tension when the Russians took an interest in Malta, in the center of French control of the Mediterranean, and Paris made sure the influence was limited.[3] Increasingly as each power expanded each played a growing role in the European balance of power. France was generally allied with Sweden, Poland–Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire, in explicit opposition to the Austrian Habsburgs but implicitly also against Russia. There was no direct war between the two. However they fought on opposite sides in the 1733–1738 War of the Polish Succession and in the 1740-1748 War of the Austrian Succession; they were allies against Prussia during the Seven Years' War of 1756 to 1763.[4]
There was little economic trade but more in the way of intellectual exchange, starting with the visit of Peter the Great to Paris in 1717. He and Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine all sponsored French intellectuals to visit and teach in Russia. Thus French artists dominated the Russian Academy of Fine Arts after 1758. In the mid 18th century Voltaire gave French Enlightenment intellectuals a positive image, portraying Russia as an opportunity society, in which an all-powerful leaders such as Peter the Great could create a rational and enlightened society by decree. On the other hand, equally influential French enlightenment writers especially Denis Diderot portrayed Russia in dark colours, emphasizing the lack of an enlightenment tradition or a middle class, and a propensity toward harsh dictatorship.[5][6]
19th century
Napoleonic wars
Russia and France were mostly enemies in the Napoleonic wars. Russia fought against France in the War of the Second Coalition. Once Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799, Russia remained hostile and fought in the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalitions, which were victories for France and saw French power extend into Central Europe. After the defeat of the Imperial Russian Army in the Battle of Friedland, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I met aboard a barge in the Nieman River to negotiate a separate peace in a ceremony modeled after negotiations of Roman Emperors.[7] Although Napoleon and Alexander had cordial personal relations, the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807 led to an uneasy alliance. Both Napoleon and Alexander wanted to control eastern Europe. However Napoleon established a puppet Polish state — the Duchy of Warsaw — which annoyed Russia. Napoleon was bothered that Russia was trading with the United Kingdom.[8] The goal was not to conquer or absorb Russia but to punish the Tsar and force him back into line.[9] Napoleon amassed a huge army of 600,000 soldiers from France and its allies to invade Russia in 1812. Only a tenth survived the fighting and the extreme cold. It was a spectacular defeat for France and a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, leading to a massive Sixth coalition alliance in which Russia played the leading role. Paris fell. Bonaparte abdicated and the Bourbon kings returned to power in 1814. Napoleon made a brief 100-day return in 1815 but was forced to surrender again.[10]
Russia supports conservatism after 1814
At the Vienna Congress of 1814–15, Russia played a major diplomatic role as a leader of the conservative, anti-revolutionary forces. This suited the Bourbon kings who again ruled France after the Restoration. Russia was a leader of the conservative Concert of Europe which sought to stifle revolution.[11]
Russia and France both supported the successful Greek revolt against Ottoman rule, 1821–1831. In terms of minorities living under Ottoman rule, Russia saw itself as the protector of Orthodox Christianity while France saw itself as the protector of Catholicism. Western as the prote[12] Russia gave financial support of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Syria and Palestine, while France aided Catholic mission work. Russia's impact was limited by distrust of Greek bishops who distrusted the Patriarch in Moscow.[clarification needed][13][14]
Russia led the forces of conservatism that helped crush the Revolutions of 1848 across Eastern Europe. In France however, the Revolution succeeded in bringing the liberal Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte to power. Soon thereafter Napoleon's ambitious nephew arranged to have himself crowned Emperor Napoleon III of the Second Empire. The intellectual mood in France feared Russian expansionism, military strength, and a premodern Asiatic (or "Tatar") perspective that hated the Enlightenment roots of Western European culture. The mood fostered public support for the Crimean War as Britain and France defeated Russia, 1854–1856.[15][16]
France joins Crimean War against Russia, 1854–1856
Napoleon III favoured a "policy of nationalities" (principe des nationalités) or support to national revolutions in multinational countries like Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, something fervently opposed by the Tsarist regime. France's challenges to Russia's influence led France to participate in the Crimean War, which saw British and French troops invade the Crimean peninsula and defeat Russia.
Temporary entente 1859–1863
Following the Crimean War, Napoleon III tried hard to reach a friendly entente with Russia, and succeeded in so doing with a secret treaty signed in March 1859. The treaty stated in article 1: "in case of war of Piedmont and France against Austria, the Emperor Alexander will, from the moment of the declaration of war, adopt a political and military position most clearly demonstrating his benevolent neutrality towards France." [17] A. J. P. Taylor says the 1859 treaty, "was a triumph for Napoleon; and indeed it alone made possible the liberation of Italy".[18] However, when the January Uprising broke out in Congress Poland in 1863, France sent a series of notes to Russia demanding reforms and ended the 1859 entente. In Prussia, Otto von Bismarck took a friendly position toward Russia on Poland and other issues, and made sure that when war broke out between France and the German states in 1870, Russia was neutral, as was every other power.[19]
Growth of ties 1871-1900
Imperial Russia's foreign policy was hostile to republican France in the 19th century and very pro-German. The First and Second Three Emperor's Leagues of the 1870s and 1880s-which brought together Germany, Austria and Russia-had as its stated purpose the preservation of the monarchical order in Europe against the France of the Third Republic. After the defeat in the Franco-German war of 1870–71, French elites concluded that France could never hope to defeat Germany on its own, and the way to defeat the Reich would be with the help of another great power. Germany's Otto von Bismarck drew the same conclusion and worked hard to keep France diplomatically isolated.[20]
French politics was deeply polarized between monarchists on one side, and republicans on the other. The republicans at first don't welcome any alliance with Russia. Russia and France had different positions on almost all international affairs at that time. At a time when French Republicans were rallying in the Dreyfus affair against anti-Semitism, Russia was the most notorious center of anti-Semitic outrages. On the other hand, France was increasingly frustrated by Bismarck's success in isolating it diplomatically. France had issues with Italy, which was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance. Paris made a few overtures to Berlin, but they were rebuffed, and after 1900 there was a threat of war between France and Germany over Germany's attempt to deny French expansion into Morocco. The United Kingdom was still pursuing its “splendid isolation” foreign policy and after a major agreement in 1890 with Germany, it seemed favorable toward Berlin. By 1892, Russia was the only opportunity for France to break out of its diplomatic isolation. Russia had been allied with Germany when Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck in 1890 and ended the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia in 1892. Russia was alone diplomatically and like France, it needed a military alliance to contain the threat of Germany's strong army and military aggressiveness. Pope Leo XIII, angered by German anti-Catholicism, worked diplomatically to bring Paris and St. Petersburg together. Russia desperately needed money for the completion of railways and ports. The Reich government refused to allow German banks to lend money to Russia, but French banks did so eagerly. For example, it funded the essential Trans-Siberian Railway. Rejected by Germany, Russia cautiously began a policy of rapprochement with France starting in 1891. the French for their part were very interested in the Russian offers of an alliance.[21]
In August 1891, France and Russia signed a "consultative pact" where both nations agreed to consult each other if another power were to threaten the peace of Europe. Negotiations were increasingly successful, and in early 1894 France and Russia agreed to the Franco-Russian Alliance, a military pledge to join in war if Germany attacked either of them. The alliance was intended to deter Germany from going to war by presenting it with the threat of a two-front war; neither France or Russia could hope to defeat Germany on its own, but their combined power might do so. France had finally escaped its diplomatic isolation.[22][23] The alliance was secret until 1897, when the French government realized that secrecy was defeating its deterrent value. After France was humiliated by Britain in the Fashoda Incident of 1898, the French wanted the alliance to become an anti-British alliance. In 1900, the alliance was amended to name Great Britain as a threat and stipulated that should Britain attack France, Russia would invade British India. The French provided a loan so that the Russians could start the construction of a railroad from Orenburg to Tashkent. Tashkent in its turn would be the base from which the Russians would invade Afghanistan as the prelude to invading India.[24]
20th century
In 1902, Japan formed a military alliance with Britain, which built up an Anglo-Japanese alliance. In response, Russia worked with France in order to renege on agreements to reduce troop strength in Manchuria. On March 16, 1902, a mutual pact was signed between France and Russia. Japan later fought Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. France remained neutral in this conflict.
In 1908-09 during the Bosnian crisis, France declined to support Russia against Austria-Hungary and Germany. The lack of French interest in supporting Russia during the Bosnia crisis was the low point of Franco-Russian relations with the Emperor Nicholas II making no effort to hide his disgust at the lack of support from what was supposed to be his number one ally. Nicholas seriously considered abrogating the alliance with France, and was only stopped by the lack of an alternative.[25] Further linking France and Russia together was a common economic interests. Russia wished to industrialize, but lacked the capital to do so while the French were more than prepared to lend the necessary money to finance Russia's industrialisation. By 1913, French investors had invested 12 billion francs into Russian assets, making the French the largest investors in the Russian empire. The industrialisation of the Russian Empire was partially the result of a massive influx of French capital into the country.[26]
USSR: 1917–1941
The Bolsheviks opted for peace with Germany in 1917 and refused to recognize the czarist loans. In December 1917 France broke relations and supported the anti-Bolshevik cause. It supported the White Guard in the Russian Civil War, and supported Poland in the war of 1920. It also recognized Count Pyotr Wrangel, the military dictator of South Russia and the leader of the White Caucasus Army, as the legitimate head of state of Russia.[27] France also wanted to directly intervene in the Soviet-Polish War, but its key ally the United Kingdom was unwilling.[27] The operations failed, and France switched from a diplomacy of opposition to one of containment of communism, with sharply reduced contacts. French communist continue to visit Moscow, and promote communism in France, but there was no official presence. By 1924, Comintern efforts to overthrow capitalism in a world revolution had failed, and the New Economic Policy met the Soviets were eager for international trade. As a result, Édouard Herriot's government in Paris officially recognized the Soviet Union, leading to a rapid growth of commercial and cultural exchanges.[28] Soviet artists were welcomed in Paris, especially Maxim Gorky and Ilya Ehrenburg, In turn, Moscow honored leading French artists.[29]
Soviet diplomats in France sought a military alliance with France in the early 1930s, but the French were distrustful of the Soviets.[30] The rapid growth of power in Nazi Germany encouraged both Paris and Moscow to form a military alliance, and a weak one was signed in May 1935. A firm believer in collective security, Stalin's foreign minister Maxim Litvinov worked very hard to form a closer relationship with France and Britain.[31] On the eve of World War II in 1939 French and British diplomats tried to form a military alliance with Moscow, but the Germans offered much better terms. The Soviet-German pact of August 1939 indicated Moscow's decisive break with Paris, as it became an economic ally of Germany.[32]
USSR: 1941–1991
When Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 Charles de Gaulle emphasized that Free France supported the USSR. In December 1944, de Gaulle went to Moscow; The two nations signed a treaty of alliance and mutual assistance. The treaty was finally renounced in 1955, long after the Cold War had begun.[33]
Stalin thought France was no longer a great power so de Gaulle had to make concessions to Stalin to obtain Soviet support against Anglo-Saxon dominance. There was a hope of making France a bridge between the Soviets and the Anglo-Americans. All of the Big Three refused to pretend that France was a power again, so it was not invited to the decisive Yalta Conference in February 1945, which was humiliating. The emerging Cold War produced new tensions. When de Gaulle became the French leader in 1945, he put communists in minor roles in his government, blocking them from key positions such as a home office, the foreign office, and the war office. Furthermore, the successful Communist efforts to seize power in Poland, directed by Stalin, were worrisome to the French. With Roosevelt replaced by Harry Truman, France increasingly turned to the American presence in Western Europe to maintain balance of power.[34]
The Communist Party was a strong political influence in France, and was under the direction of the Kremlin. It drew support from certain labor unions, from veterans of the anti-Nazi resistance, and from artists and intellectuals. Communists emphasized anti-Americanism, to win support in the artistic and cultural communities. Pablo Picasso was an outspoken anti-American communist.[35] In 1947 the French Communist Party was at its height, and there was speculation it might come to power. However the Soviet strong-arm tactics and Eastern Europe, combined with strong opposition from key few French government officials, broke the power of the Party and sent it into a downward spiral.[36]
Decolonisation of the French colonial empire gave Moscow the opportunity to provide propaganda support for the anti-colonial fighters, as well as weapons, especially in Algeria and Vietnam. This angered French moderates.[37]
Despite the pressure from the left, the Fourth Republic had more urgent concerns regarding relations with Germany, and economy supported by Marshall Aid, fears of communist subversion in the colonial empire, and American support for the anti-communist war in Vietnam. Official government policy supported the United States and NATO. When de Gaulle returned to power in the May 1958 crisis and establishment of the Fifth Republic, relations with Moscow improved. De Gaulle did not trust the United States to use nuclear weapons in defense of France, so it built its own. To enhance France's global prestige, it tried to be a broker between Moscow and Washington.
In May 1960, de Gaulle hosted a summit in Paris between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and NATO leaders. The summit worked poorly because of the 1960 U-2 incident. De Gaulle then moved away from NATO to concentrate more on Europe as an independent actor. He reduced reliance on the American military because the Cold War was heating up between Washington and Moscow.[38] France never officially left NATO, but de Gaulle sharply reduced its military commitment In the 1960s.[39][40][41]
Relations were badly hurt by Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and the rejection of communism by numerous artists and intellectuals. However, the emergence of Eurocommunism made détente possible in the 1970s.[42] Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev made a visit to France in October 1985 in order to fix the strains in the Franco-Soviet relations. Nevertheless, France's bilateral activities continued with NATO, which made close deals with Communist USSR impossible.
1991–2015
The USSR disintegrated in 1991 and Communism collapsed in France and across Europe.[43] Bilateral relations between France and Russia never became warm. On February 7, 1992, France signed a bilateral treaty, recognizing Russia as a successor of the USSR. As described by Paris the bilateral relations between France and Russia remain longstanding, and remain strong to this day.[44]
During the 2008 Georgia-Russia War, Nicolas Sarkozy did not insist on territorial integrity of Georgia. Moreover, there were no French protests when Russia failed to obey Sarkozy's deal to withdraw from Georgia and recognizing governments in Georgia's territories.[45]
A piece of major news was the sale of Mistral class amphibious assault ships to Russia. The deal which was signed in 2010,[46] was the first major arms deal between Russia and the Western world since World War II.[47] The deal was criticized for neglecting the security interests of Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Georgia.[45] In 2015, France stopped the planned sale after the outbreak of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.[48] In that same year, France instead sold the two Mistral warships to Egypt.[49]
Before the Syrian Civil War, Franco-Russian relations were generally improving. After years of flailing behind Germany and Italy, France decided to copy them by emphasising the bilateral relationship. Ever since the financial crisis took hold, European powers have been forced to court emerging markets more, while Moscow wanted to diversify its own economy. President Hollande summed up the attitude towards what some said was Putin's repressive array of new laws during his first official visit to Moscow in February 2013: "I do not have to judge, I do not have to evaluate".[50]
2015–present
France and Russia were both attacked by the group ISIS. As a response, François Hollande and Vladimir Putin agreed on ordering their respective armed forces to "cooperate" with one another in the fight against the terrorist organization. The French President has called upon the international community to bring "together of all those who can realistically fight against this terrorist army in a large and unique coalition."[51] The French-Russian bombing cooperation is considered to be an "unprecedented" move, given that France is a member of NATO.[52]
The French press highlighted that ISIS is the first common enemy that France and Russia fight shoulder to shoulder since World War II.[53] A Russian newspaper recalled that "WWII had forced the Western World and the Soviet Union to overcome their ideological differences", wondering whether ISIS would be the "new Hitler".[54]
A poll conducted by YouGov in 2015 found that only 15% of French people believed that the Soviet Union contributed most to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. In contrast, the survey conducted in May 1945 found that 57% of the French public believed the Soviet Union contributed most.[55]
On 29 August 2020, the French Defense Minister Florence Parly informed that a senior military officer came under investigation for sharing the ultra-sensitive information to the Russian intelligence. The lieutenant-colonel was accused of “serious security breaches”, for which he was facing legal proceedings. [56]
On 20 February 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to work toward a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.[57] The two leaders also agreed on "the importance of favouring a diplomatic solution to the present crisis and doing all possible to achieve one," according to the Élysée, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meeting "in the coming days."[57]
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine started, France, as one of the EU countries, imposed sanctions on Russia, and Russia added all EU countries to the list of "unfriendly nations".[58] On 5 June 2022, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire stated that France is currently in talks with the United Arab Emirates, with the intention to find an alternative to Russian oil. The country is set to stop Russian crude purchases due to the imposition of the European Union ban.
French intelligence services in Russia
In 1980 France's domestic intelligence service, the DST recruited KGB officer Vladimir Vetrov as a double agent.[59] The French DST later worked with the U.S. CIA and the Canadian CSIS to an operation to funnel faulty computer technology to the Soviet Union after leaks revealed that the KGB was trying to acquire Western computer technology through theft and legitimate purchases by front companies.[60]
Russian intelligence services in France
During the Cold War, Russian active measures targeted French public opinion. Some indication of the success is given by polls that showed more French support to the Soviet Union than the United States.[61]
According to French counterintelligence sources in 2010, Russian espionage operations against France have reached levels not seen since the 1980s.[62]
Examples of operations
Examples of suspected or verified Soviet and Russian operations:
- Agence France-Presse - The Mitrokhin archive identified six agents and two confidential contacts.[63]
- Le Monde - The newspaper (codename VESTNIK, "messenger") was notable for spreading anti-American, pro-Soviet propaganda to the French population. The Mitrokhin archive contains two senior Le Monde journalists and several contributors.[63] Le Monde, through its supplement Le Monde Diplomatique, has been among the Western news outlets most sharply critical of the Mueller investigation.[64][65]
- La Tribune des Nations - Effectively KGB-run.[66]
- Various bogus biographies.[66]
- Infiltration of Gaullist movement: "More than any other political movement, Gaullism was swarming with agents of influence of the obliging KGB, whom we never succeeded in keeping away from de Gaulle"[67]
- Almost 15 million francs to De Gaulle's campaign, delivered by a businessman recruited by the KGB.[68]
- KGB hired people close to François Mitterrand.[69]
- Agents close to President Georges Pompidou were ordered to manipulate him with disinformation so he would become suspicious of the United States.[70]
- Pierre Charles Pathé - KGB codename PECHERIN (later MASON) run one of Moscow's disinformation networks for 20 years until French counterintelligence decided to arrest him during a financial transaction.
Resident diplomatic missions
- France has an embassy in Moscow and consulates-general in Saint Petersburg and in Yekaterinburg.
- Russia has an embassy in Paris and consulates-general in Marseille and in Strasbourg.
See also
- History of French foreign relations
- French entry into World War I
- Franco-Russian Alliance, 1891-1917
- French invasion of Russia, Napoleon in 1812
- International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)
- Igumnov House, residence of French ambassador in Moscow
- Lycée Français Alexandre Dumas de Moscou, school sponsored by French government
- Russian entry into World War I
- Russians in France
- Frenchs in Russia
References
- ^ "Publics Worldwide Unfavorable Toward Putin, Russia". Pew Research Center. November 30, 2017.
- ^ "RUSSIA AND FRANCE: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE". Russian Public Opinion Research Center. May 28, 2018. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
- ^ Thomas Freller, "In Search of a Mediterranean Base: the Order of St. John and Russia's Great Power Plans During the Rule of Tsar Peter the Great and Tsarina Catherine II." Journal of Early Modern History 8.1 (2004): 3-30.
- ^ John P. LeDonne, The Grand Strategy of the Russian Empire, 1650–1831 (2003) pp 40, 63, 85–92.
- ^ Ezequiel Adamovsky, Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880) (Peter Lang, 2006) pp. 36, 83
- ^ Michael Confino, "Re-inventing the Enlightenment: western images of eastern realities in the eighteenth century." Canadian Slavonic Papers 36.3-4 (1994): 505-522.
- ^ Reynolds, David (2009). Summits : six meetings that shaped the twentieth century. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-4458-9. OCLC 646810103.
- ^ Hubert Zawadzki, "Between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander: The Polish Question at Tilsit, 1807." Central Europe 7.2 (2009): 110-124.
- ^ Alan Forrest, "Napoleon's Vision of Empire and the Decision to Invade Russia." in Russia and the Napoleonic Wars (2015) pp 43-56.
- ^ For the Russian perspective see Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon (2011); for the French perspective see Michael Adams, Napoleon and Russia (2006).
- ^ Barbara Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow: tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814-1974 (1974) pp 28-64.
- ^ Lucien J. Frary, Russia and the making of modern Greek identity, 1821-1844 (2015).
- ^ Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow pp 65–70.
- ^ Abdul Latif Tibawi, "Russian cultural penetration of Syria—Palestine in the nineteenth century" Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 53.2 (1966): 166-182.
- ^ Raymond T. McNally, "The origins of russophobia in France: 1812-1830." American Slavic and East European Review 17.2 (1958): 173-189.
- ^ On the "Tatar" theme see Ezequiel Adamovsky, Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880) (Peter Lang, 2006).
- ^ see B. H. Sumner "The Secret Franco-Russian Treaty of 3 March 1859" English Historical Review 48#189 (1933), pp. 65-83 online; John Knox Stevens, "The Franco-Russian Treaty of 1859: New Light and New Thoughts." The Historian 28#2 (1966): 203-223. online Quoting page 221.
- ^ A.J.P. Taylor, The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954) p 106
- ^ Taylor,The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954), 206-7.
- ^ Leonard Smith, et al. France and the Great War, 1914-1918, (Cambridge University Press, 2003) p. 11.
- ^ Smith, et al. France and the Great War, 1914-1918 (2003) pp 11-12.
- ^ John B. Wolf, France 1814-1919: The rise of a Liberal-Democratic Society (1963)
- ^ William L. Langer, The diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902 (2nd ed. 1960), pp 3-66.
- ^ Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848-1918 (1954) p. 398
- ^ Tomaszewski, Fiona "Pomp, Circumstance, and Realpolitik: The Evolution of the Triple Entente of Russia, Great Britain, and France" pages 362-380 from Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 47#3 (1999) pp 369-70.
- ^ Olga Crisp (1976). Studies in the Russian Economy before 1914. Springer. p. 161. ISBN 9781349023073.
- ^ a b Steiner, Zara (2005). The lights that failed : European international history, 1919-1933. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-151881-2. OCLC 86068902.
- ^ Michael Jabara Carley, "Episodes from the Early Cold War: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1917–1927." Europe-Asia Studies 52.7 (2000): 1275-1305.
- ^ Ludmila Stern, "The All‐Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and French Intellectuals, 1925–29." Australian Journal of Politics & History 45.1 (1999): 99-109.
- ^ Vershinin, Aleksandr (2020). "'My task is to get into the French army': Soviet strategy and the origins of Soviet-French military cooperation in the 1930s". Journal of Strategic Studies. 44 (5): 685–714. doi:10.1080/01402390.2020.1737930. ISSN 0140-2390. S2CID 219068008.
- ^ Haslam, Jonathan (1984). The Soviet Union and the Struggle for Collective Security in Europe, 1933–1939. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 9780333300503
- ^ G. Bruce Strang, "John Bull in Search of a Suitable Russia: British Foreign Policy and the Failure of the Anglo-French-Soviet Alliance Negotiations, 1939." Canadian Journal of History 41.1 (2006): 47-84.
- ^ Robert Gildea, France since 1945 (2002) pp 30-35.
- ^ John Young, "Stalin and de Gaulle," History Today (June 1990) 40#6.
- ^ Kirsten Hoving Keen, "Picasso's communist interlude: the murals of 'War' and 'Peace'." The Burlington Magazine 122.928 (1980): 464-470. Online
- ^ Martin Evans and Emmanuel Godin. "The great fear of 1947: could France have gone communist?." History Today 55.1 (2005): 21.
- ^ Yahia H. Zoubir, "US and Soviet Policies Towards France's Struggle with Anticolonial Nationalism in North Africa." Canadian Journal of History 30.3 (1995): 439-466.
- ^ Benjamin Varat, "Point of Departure: A Reassessment of Charles de Gaulle and the Paris Summit of May 1960." Diplomacy and Statecraft 19.1 (2008): 96-124. online
- ^ Herbert Tint, French Foreign Policy since the Second World War (1972) online free to borrow pp 106-63.
- ^ Georges‐Henri Soutou, "France and the Cold War, 1944–63." Diplomacy and Statecraft 12.4 (2001): 35-52.
- ^ William I Hitchcock, France Restored: Cold War diplomacy and the quest for leadership in Europe 1944-1954 (1998).
- ^ David Bell and Byron Criddle. "The decline of the French communist party." British Journal of Political Science 19.4 (1989): 515-536.
- ^ Bell and Criddle. "The decline of the French communist party." British Journal of Political Science 19.4 (1989): 515-536.
- ^ French Ministry of foreign affairs - France and Russia
- ^ a b THE FOREIGN POLICY OF NICOLAS SARKOZY: The foreign policy of Nicolas Sarkozy: Not principles, opportunistic and amateurish. Marchel H. Van Herpen. February 2010
- ^ "Russia to buy French warship by year end - federal agency". RIA Novosti. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
- ^ KRAMER, ANDREW (12 March 2010). "As Its Arms Makers Falter, Russia Buys Abroad". New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33798102 Mistral warships: Russia and France agree compensation deal
- ^ https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2015/09/23/france-says-egypt-to-buy-mistral-warships/ France Says Egypt To Buy Mistral Warships
- ^ "How do you solve a problem like Russia?". the Guardian. 17 October 2013.
- ^ Russia Open to Cooperation in Fight Against ISIS: French Foreign Minister, Newsweek
- ^ Hollande in Moscow: A new era in Russian-French relations?, BBC News
- ^ (in French) Syrie : la France et la Russie s'allient contre Daech, Le Parisien
- ^ (in French) Daech, premier ennemi que la France et la Russie pourraient combattre ensemble depuis 1945, Le Huffington Post
- ^ "People in Britain and the U.S. disagree on who did more to beat the Nazis". YouGov. 1 May 2015.
- ^ "France arrests top military officer over Russian-linked 'breach'". DW. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Live: France says Putin, Macron agree to work for ceasefire in Ukraine". France 24. France 24. France 24. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ Lee, Michael (8 March 2020). "Here are the nations on Russia's 'unfriendly countries' list". CTV News.
- ^ "Farewell — The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth Century by Sergei Kostin and Eric Raynaud". Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ^ Hoffman, David E. (2010). The dead hand : the untold story of the Cold War arms race and its dangerous legacy (First Anchor Books edition, August 2010 ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-385-53217-4. OCLC 650090580.
- ^ Andrew, Christopher, Vasili Mitrokhin (2000). The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00312-5. p. 166
- ^ French secret service fear Russian cathedral a spying front. The Telegraph. 2010-05-28
- ^ a b Andrew, Christopher, Vasili Mitrokhin (2000). The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00312-5. p. 169-171
- ^ "The end of Russiagate". May 2019.
- ^ "Tchernobyl médiatique". May 2019.
- ^ a b The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 461-462
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 463
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 463
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 464
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 467-468
Further reading
- Adams, Michael. Napoleon and Russia (2006)
- Andrew, Christopher. Théophile Délcassé and the Making of the Entente Cordiale, 1898–1905 (1968).
- Bovykin, V.I. “The Franco-Russian Alliance.” History 64 (1979), pp. 20–35.
- Carley, Michael Jabara. "Prelude to Defeat: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1919-39." Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques (1996): 159–188. in JSTOR
- Carley, Michael Jabara. "Episodes from the Early Cold War: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1917–1927." Europe-Asia Studies 52.7 (2000): 1275–1305.
- Carroll, E. Malcolm. French Public Opinion and Foreign Affairs, 1870–1914 (1931) thorough coverage of newspaper opinions on Russia. online
- Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914 (2012), pp. 124–35, 190–96, 293–313, 438–42, 498–505. online
- Desjardins, Robert. Soviet Union through French Eyes, 1945-1985 (1988) 188pp
- Dreifort, John E. “The French Popular Front and the Franco-Soviet Pact, 1936-1937: A Dilemma in Foreign Policy.” Journal of Contemporary History 11.2/3 (1976): 217-236.
- Fay, Sidney Bradshaw. The Origins of the World War (2nd ed. 1934) vol 1 pp 105–24, 312-42, vol 2 pp 277–86, 443-46. online
- Hamel, Catherine. La commémoration de l’alliance Franco-russe : La création d’une culture matérielle populaire, 1890-1914 (French) (MA thesis, Concordia University, 2016) ; online
- Hartley, Janet M. et al. eds. Russia and the Napoleonic Wars (2015), new scholarship
- Jelavich, Barbara. St. Petersburg and Moscow: tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814-1974 (1974) online
- Kaplan, Herbert H. Russia and the outbreak of the Seven Years' War (1968) on 1750s.
- Keiger, J.F.V. France and the World since 1870 (2001) online
- Kennan, George Frost. The fateful alliance: France, Russia, and the coming of the First World War (1984) online free to borrow
- Kennan, George F. The decline of Bismarck's European order: Franco-Russian relations, 1875-1890 (1979).
- Langer, William F. The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1890-1894 (1930)
- Langer, William F. The Diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890-1902 (1950) pp 3–66. online
- Lieven, Dominic. Russia against Napoleon: the battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814 (2009). excerpt
- Michon, Georges. The Franco-Russian Alliance: 1891-1917 (1969). online
- Ragsdale, Hugh, and Ponomarev, V.N., eds. Imperial Russian Foreign Policy (1993).
- Saul, Norman E. Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Foreign Policy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).
- Schmitt, B.E. The Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente (1947).
- Scott, William Evans. Alliance against Hitler: The Origins of the Franco-Soviet Pact (1962), the 1935 treaty with USSR online
- Siegel, Jennifer. For Peace and Money: French and British Finance in the Service of Tsars and Commissars (Oxford UP, 2014) on First World War loans.
- Sontag, Raymond James. European diplomatic history, 1871-1932 (1933), pp 29–58. online
- Taylor, A.J.P. The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954) pp 325–45. online
- Tomaszewski, Fiona. "Pomp, Circumstance, and Realpolitik: The Evolution of the Triple Entente of Russia, Great Britain, and France." Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas vol. 3 (1999): 362–380. in JSTOR, in English
- Tomaszewski, Fiona K. A Great Russia: Russia and the Triple Entente, 1905-1914 (Greenwood, 2002).
- Wall, Irwin. "France in the Cold War" Journal of European Studies (2008) 38#2 pp 121–139.
Recent since 1991
- de Gliniasty, Jean. "Emmanuel Macron's Russian policy." Revue internationale et strategique 1 (2020): 31-39.
- Kutsenko, Andrii. "Emmanuel Macron and Franco-Russian relations at the present stage." Political Science and Security Studies Journal 1.1 (2020): 94-100. online
- Saul, Norman E. Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Foreign Policy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).