OREANDA-NEWS. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday that he did not rule out the start of a new phase in Franco-Russian relations. The Minister spoke live on the French television channel. “Perhaps a new stage in the history of our relations begins”, the minister said. "But I'm careful in my assessment", he added. At the same time, Le Drian emphasized that the meetings that he and Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parley had in Moscow "were useful".

We haven't reached such a level that we can say that Russia has become part of Europe”, Le Drian said. "However, the fact that President Macron will travel to Moscow to participate in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the end of the 1939-1945 war is an important event", Le Drian emphasized. "The atmosphere in relations with Russia has become better, we want to engage in constructive actions together", the minister said.

"We can assume that something happened in Bregancon that helps to improve the quality of relations between President Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. That is, we decided to re-enter the old rhythm of relations that were previously regular - in terms of meetings of defense ministers and the foreign ministers of the two countries. And in this regard, a schedule of such meetings was developed", said Le Drian.

At the same time, during the interview, he gave a number of negative assessments of the relations between the two countries. "The situation in relations with Russia is now uninteresting, because we are in a situation of mutual distrust", the French minister said in particular. “And this isn't without reason”, he explained.

"It's for this reason that French President Emmanuel Macron initiated demarches against Russia so that we again take the path of trust, but acting without any naivety and without denying the existence of points of disagreement", said the head of the French Foreign Ministry.