France will send its ambassador to Moscow for tomorrow’s inauguration ceremony of Russian President Vladimir Putin for his next six-year term, a French diplomatic source said today. Germany, on the other hand, said it would not be represented at the event, Reuters reported.
The agency noted that the decision by Paris suggests a potential split in the Western camp after several countries, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, strongly opposed giving Putin any form of legitimacy and thus potentially undermining Ukraine’s war effort with Russia.
The Polish ambassador will also not attend the ceremony, TASS reported.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs today called on the international community not to recognize Putin as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia, arguing that there are no legal grounds for doing so, Reuters reported.
Putin won by a record margin in the March election, consolidating his already tight grip on power, Reuters notes. The vote came just weeks after his most prominent opponent, Alexei Navalny, died in prison. Western governments condemned the re-election as unfair and undemocratic.
“France will be represented by its ambassador in Russia,” the French diplomatic source said. He added that Paris had condemned the oppressive background against which the vote, deprived of real elections, was held, as well as its organization in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia , which France considers a violation of international law and the UN Charter.
Franco-Russian relations have soured in recent months as Paris stepped up its support for Ukraine. Last week, President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, saying he would consider it a real possibility if Russia broke through the Ukrainian front and Kiev asked for support.
Germany has said it will not send a representative to Putin’s inauguration ceremony. The Baltic states, which do not have representatives in Moscow, also categorically rejected the possibility of attending the ceremony.
Two European diplomats said they did not expect the US to send a representative to the case, although Washington has not commented publicly on the matter.
“We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, should be continued,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis. “The presence of the inauguration is unacceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people in the fight against Russian aggression,” he added.
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