Russia To Work With Whoever Wins French Presidency - Ambassador

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2021) Russian Ambassador to France Alexey Meshkov said on Thursday that Moscow would be ready to engage with whoever emerges as the winner of next year's French presidential race.

"I see that we'll have to do a lot of explaining in the coming months that Russia isn't going to interfere in the French elections. It's up to the French who their next president will be, and we will be ready to work with whoever the French people choose," he told a media gathering over dinner in Paris.

The diplomat said the Russian and French governments had a working relationship, the ambassador added. This is despite accusations that Russia tried to swing elections in the US and Germany in its favor, which it denies.

The French will go to the polls in the first round of presidential elections on April 10. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron is yet to announce whether he will run against a crop of far-right and leftist contenders, currently led by conservative political veteran Marine Le Pen.