The France side has received full explanations regarding the close approaches of the Russian and French satellites a long time ago, a source in the Russian Embassy in France told Sputnik.
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2018) The France side has received full explanations regarding the close approaches of the Russian and French satellites a long time ago, a source in the Russian Embassy in France told Sputnik.
On Friday, French Defense Minister Florence Parly accused Russia of committing "an act of espionage" back in 2017, claiming that a Russian satellite then approached the French-Italian military satellite Athena-Fidus in an attempt to intercept its communications.
"The French side has expressed concern with the fact that Russian satellite got 'dangerously close' to the French satellite a while ago and received full explanations on the matter more than half a year ago. Moreover, the French side has never doubted that this incident had not involved any violations of international law or security regulations for the movement of space objects," the source said.
According to the source, the French side has not made any further inquiries since then, and therefore the Russian side considers the question closed.
"You should ask the French side why the French defense minister has decided to bring up this issue half a year later in such a strange form," the source said.
