Russia-France 2+2 Ministerial To Take Place Later, Was Postponed By Paris Decision- Lavrov

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2020) The Russian-French meeting of defense and foreign ministers, initially planned for September 14, will be held later, it was postponed due to Paris' desire to revise the schedule, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Sputnik.

The French Foreign Ministry announced on September 8 postponing the session of the French-Russian Security Cooperation Council.

"We really used to plan sessions in the 2+2 format, but the 2+2 ministerial was postponed until later due to reasons, which I believe we may only guess. French colleagues just told me they needed to slightly revise the schedule of our meetings.

I will not speculate about the reasons, but it seems that the general atmosphere and attitude to Russia that is now being fomented in the European Union certainly has an influence on the schedule of our contacts," Lavrov said.

"However, we have recently held consultations on a whole range of important problems, such as terrorism fight and cybersecurity. This is in compliance with the plans approved by [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron," the foreign minister stressed.