France rejects Russian statement on Paris' readiness for dialogue on Ukraine

France has denied Russia's claim that it supposedly expressed readiness for dialogue on Ukraine or discussion of possible peace talks during a conversation between the two countries' defence ministers on Wednesday.

"It is not true. At no moment did we show any willingness to dialogue on Ukraine or negotiations or anything like that," a source in the French government said, as reported by Reuters.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said earlier that during a telephone conversation between French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, "readiness for a dialogue on Ukraine was noted."

The Russian ministry claimed in a statement that the starting point for the discussion could be the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian sides in Türkiye in 2022, which ended without results.

Shoigu reportedly noted that any "practical implementation" of President Emmanuel Macron's proposal to send troops to Ukraine "would create problems for France."

The day before, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu had a telephone conversation with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, the first such interaction since October 2022.

Lecornu condemned the terrorist attack committed by the Islamic State in Moscow Oblast on 22 March and expressed solidarity with those who were killed and their families.

He also condemned Russia's ongoing aggressive war against Ukraine and reiterated that France would continue to support Ukraine "as long as intensively as necessary in its struggle for freedom and sovereignty, in order to bring peace and security to the European continent."

French President Emmanuel Macron called Russia's attempts to link the terrorist attacks near Moscow to Ukraine cynical, noting that information from French intelligence and partners points to ISIS.

He also said that the same branch of the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Russia’s Moscow Oblast had made several attempts to carry out an attack in France.