VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Relations with France are a priority for Russian foreign policy.
The Russian Federation inherited a well-developed range of relations with the French Republic from the USSR. Diplomatic relations between the USSR and France were established on October 28, 1924. The Agreement between Russia and France has confirmed the aspirations of both parties to develop "relations of consent, based on trust, solidarity and cooperation" and was signed on February 7, 1992.
Bilateral political dialogue is intense and has reflected increasing mutual confidence in recent years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's state visit to France on February 10-12, 2003 was of considerable importance for the deepening of Russian-French relations. President Putin returned to France on a working visit on November 7, 2003. French President Jacques Chirac visited Russia for a brief working visit on the 3rd of April, 2004. The next working visit of the President of the Russian Federation to France took place on June 6, 2004. During this visit Vladimir Putin took part in ceremonies to mark the 60th anniversary of operation "Overlord".
The presidents of Russia and France met again at a Russian-French-German summit in Sochi on the 31st of August, 2004. Vladimir Putin visited France on March 18-19, 2005 to take part in a four way meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Jacques Chirac took part in the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of victory in the Second World War, visiting Moscow on May 9, 2005.
That July, a regular meeting of French and Russian presidents took place in Kaliningrad in the course of the Russian-French-German summit.
The presidents of Russia and France took part in the G8 summit in St Petersburg on July 15-17, 2006. A bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac took place during the summit.
Vladimir Putin went to France on a working visit on September 22-23, 2006. The visit took in a trilateral Russian-French-German summit in Compiegne and negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Jacques Chirac.
The first meeting between Vladimir Putin and the newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy took place at the G8 summit in Hajligendamm, Germany, on June 6-8, 2007. Nicolas Sarkozy's first working visit to Russia took place on October 9-10, 2007.
By decision of the two countries' presidents, the Russian-French Security Cooperation Council was established by a Joint statement issued by the Russian and French foreign ministers on July 8, 2002.
The first session of the newly established Council took place in Paris on November 15, 2002. The second session was held in Moscow in July 2003, the third in Paris in March 2004, the fourth in Moscow in January 2005, the fifth in Paris in October 2005, the sixth in Moscow in February 2007, and the seventh in Paris in March 2008. The sides discussed cooperation between the two countries in the UN Security Council, Russian-European partnership in the context of forthcoming French Presidency of the European Union, relations between Russia and NATO, conventional arms limitation in Europe, missile defence, Kosovo, Iran's nuclear programme and other urgent international issues were negotiated in the course of these sessions.
Cooperation in military and military-technical areas is becoming more active.
Russian and French warships make business and official visits to ports of the two countries on a regular basis. Two warships from Russia's Northern Fleet and Black Sea Fleet, the Admiral Chabanenko and the Sergey Osipov, and the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, visited the main naval base of Toulon in the middle of January and beginning of February 2008.
A bilateral intergovernmental agreement regarding transit of military equipment and personnel through the territory of the Russian Federation was signed on October 7, 2004 and has been effective since July 1, 2005. This agreement was connected with the participation of the French Armed Forces in efforts to stabilise and restore peace in Afghanistan.
Bilateral cooperation is also developing in the area of state construction and civil service reform. This cooperation was announced in the context of an agreement on cooperation in the area of civil service, signed on May 25, 2001. It includes exchange of information regarding the civil service of both countries, training of Russian civil servants in France, joint seminars, and cooperation between Russian and French educational institutions. Work on the new bilateral Memorandum regarding cooperation in training managerial personnel for the Russian civil service is in progress.
Cultural ties between Russia and France have a long and rich history. The Memorandum of Cooperation between the Russian Ministry of Culture and the French Ministry of Culture and Communications for the period 2004-2006, signed on January 7, 2004, was designed to diversify and balance cultural cooperation to promote better mutual acquaintance of Russian and French culture amongst the general public. An international meeting of young people from France and Russia, Youth Crossroads, was of considerable importance for achieving this goal. It took place in Moscow from the May 29 to June 2, 2004 and in Strasbourg on June 2-6, 2004. Another bilateral youth and language event, Bibliobraz, took place in 2005. A similar event, Discovering Each Other, is being prepared, in the course of which a range of books for teenagers is expected to be published.
An intergovernmental agreement regarding the study of the Russian language in France and the French language in Russia was signed in Paris in December 2004. Russia participated in the exhibition Expolang - 2007 as a guest of honour under the slogan "Russian - the first language in space" in Paris on January 24-27, 2007. The opening of the Russian exposition was carried out under the patronage of the French and Russian first ladies. The third session of the Russian-French commission for cultural cooperation took place in Paris on February 2, 2007. As a result of this session a final protocol was signed.
According to the agreement reached the year 2010 will be the year of France in Russia and the year of Russia in France.
