Moscow-Paris Partnership Would Help Alleviate Europe's Crisis of Confidence - Lavrov

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th June, 2020) As Europe is experiencing a large-scale crisis of confidence, a partnership between Moscow and Paris, which share the special responsibility for maintaining peace as permanent members of the UN Security Council, would help to improve the situation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"The Euro-Atlantic is facing a large-scale crisis of confidence. A truly united Europe has not been built. The large-scale potential for interaction between Russia and the European Union, in fact, has not been realized. European, including French, business is experiencing losses," Lavrov said in an article for the French Revue Politique et Parlementaire magazine on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of outstanding French politician Charles de Gaulle.

The minister expressed confidence that the current scenario was far from what de Gaulle � a strong supporter of building mutually respectful relations with Moscow � had in mind, well aware of the counterproductiveness and futility of "Europe without Russia."

"We are convinced that a wide partnership between Moscow and Paris, which share the special responsibility for maintaining international peace, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, would contribute to the improvement of the situation at the European, as well as the global level," Lavrov said.

The diplomat also noted that Moscow welcomed the initiative of French President Emanuel Macron to create a European security system, which does not oppose Russia but includes it.

"It is crucial that the right words are turned, finally, into practical steps, in the restructuring of political consciousness on the principles of international law and companionship. Russia, for its part, is always ready for such an honest and equal interaction," the minister added.

De Gaulle, who took the chair of the president of France on January 8, 1959, opposed US hegemony in Europe and began a course toward rapprochement with the Soviet Union. De Gaulle was the first politician to put forward the integration idea of "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals." Over the years of his tenure as president, Soviet-French relations have developed significantly. In 1966, de Gaulle paid an official visit to the USSR. As a result of negotiations and the signing of the Soviet-French declaration on June 30, 1966, an important stage was opened in the history of relations between the two countries.