Yesterday, Paris “strongly” condemned Moscow’s expulsion of 34 French diplomats, saying the decision was not based “on any legal grounds.”
“The Russian side presents this decision as a response to France’s decisions” taken in April, when it expelled “dozens of Russian agents” suspected of espionage, the Foreign Ministry said.
“Otherwise, the work of diplomats and employees of our embassy in Russia is completely within the framework of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic and Consular Relations,” she added.
In turn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has threatened to block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO, on Wednesday urged the alliance to “respect” Ankara’s concerns about the entry of the two countries, which Turkey accuses of providing safe haven to “PKK terrorists.” .”
“We expect NATO countries to first understand our delicacy, respect it, and finally support it,” Erdogan told lawmakers in his party.
Yesterday, Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a major change in the two countries’ policy of military neutrality for decades.
On the other hand, the Kremlin yesterday accused Ukraine of a “complete lack of will” to negotiate with Russia to end the conflict on Ukrainian lands since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24th.
“Negotiations are not moving forward, and we note a complete lack of will on the part of the Ukrainian negotiators to continue this process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian presidency said the talks had been suspended because of Russia.
Advisor to the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak confirmed that “the negotiation process has been suspended.”
The Kremlin also confirmed that it had no information that a Russian soldier was being tried in Ukraine in the first war crimes case since Moscow invaded a neighboring country, and accused Kyiv of fabricating such charges against Russia.
“There is no information yet,” said Dmitry Peskov.
And the ability to help (the accused) in the absence of diplomatic representation is very limited,” he said, believing that numerous accusations of war crimes against the Russian army were “fabricated or deliberate.”
A soldier from Irkutsk in Siberia, accused of war crimes and premeditated murder, faces a life sentence.
