Russia’s ambassador to France will be summoned to the foreign ministry Monday over the deaths of two French aid workers last week in a bombardment in Ukraine, a diplomatic source told AFP.
The ministry “will also denounce reinforced disinformation targeting France,” the source said, days after defence chiefs flagged a “coordinated Russian scheme” to spread false information.
Tensions have risen between Moscow and Paris in recent days, with the Russian government blasting “militarist frenzy” in France after it announced new arms deliveries to Ukraine.
President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Kyiv this month, an event Paris believes could be the target for further disinformation attacks.
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The two aid workers were killed Thursday in a strike on Beryslav, a small Ukrainian town close to the frontline on the north bank of the river Dnipro, France’s foreign ministry said Friday.
Three more French citizens were injured in the attack, the ministry added.
Paris has called the strike an act of “barbarism” and French terrorism prosecutors opened an investigation.
The dispute follows Russia’s claim last month that it killed dozens of “French mercenaries” and wounded more in a strike on Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.
Although Paris has denied the allegation, lists of people supposedly killed in the attack were spread widely by pro-Russian social media accounts.
AFP was able to track down three French volunteers fighting in Ukraine who confirmed they were still alive, despite being on the lists.
Ambassador Alexey Meshkov has previously been summoned to the foreign ministry twice, including soon after Russia’s early 2022 invasion to answer for a tweet the embassy posted about atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
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