フランス、ロシア大統領就任式に出席　非難の応酬のさなか

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスのピエール・レビー駐ロシア大使は７日、ウラジーミル・プーチン大統領の通算５期目となる就任式に仏政府を代表して出席した。ロシア外務省が前日に同大使を呼び出し、それを仏政府が威嚇行為だと非難するなど、両国は応酬を続けている。（写真は、ロシア・モスクワのクレムリンで就任式に臨むウラジーミル・プーチン大統領）
　仏外務省の報道官はＡＦＰに対し、レビー氏がロシア大統領府（クレムリン）で行われた就任式に出席したと明らかにした。式には約２５００人が出席したが、複数の欧州主要国は欠席した。
　ウクライナ侵攻が長期化する中で３月に行われたロシア大統領選では、プーチン氏が８７％以上の得票率を獲得して地滑り的勝利を収めたが、投票に関する不正操作疑惑が取り沙汰されている。
　エマニュエル・マクロン仏大統領は２日付の英誌エコノミストのインタビューで、ウクライナ紛争をめぐり、西側諸国の部隊をウクライナに派遣する選択肢について「あらゆる可能性を排除しない」と主張した。
　仏外務省も選挙結果を「留意する」という前回の声明を再確認する一方で、選挙の過程で「弾圧が行われ」、ウクライナの被占領地域で投票が実施されたことを非難した。
　これを受け、ロシア外務省は６日、レビー氏を呼び出し、「仏政府の破壊的で挑発的な姿勢が（ウクライナ）紛争の激化を招いている」と糾弾した。
　仏外務省は翌７日、「情報操作と威嚇目的で」またしても外交ルートが「ゆがめられている」と非難した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/05/08-17:20）

France's ambassador to Moscow on Tuesday represented Paris at the inauguration of President Vladimir Putin for a fifth term, a day after the envoy was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry in a move France denounced as intimidation.
Ambassador Pierre Levy was present at the ceremony in the Kremlin, a French foreign ministry spokesman told AFP. Several other major European powers were not represented at any level among the 2,500 dignitaries who came.
Putin won a landslide victory with more than 87 percent of the vote in the March presidential election marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and accusations of vote-rigging by the opposition.
The French foreign ministry reaffirmed its previous statement on the election that Paris took note of the result while condemning the context of repression in which it was held and the fact people cast votes in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
Russia had on Monday summoned the ambassador to the foreign ministry in Moscow to denounce what it described as the provocative policies of President Emmanuel Macron.
The Russian side presented its assessment that Paris's destructive and provocative line is leading to an escalation of the conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said.
In a recent interview with The Economist magazine, Macron said he was not ruling anything out in the West's response to the conflict in Ukraine, including sending troops to the country.
The French foreign ministry on Tuesday lashed out at the summons, saying that diplomatic channels are once again being distorted for the purpose of information manipulation and intimidation.
Tensions between Paris and Moscow have also been rising more than two years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine over French accusations of deliberate Russian disinformation ahead of European elections in June.
But after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, Macron made clear France was not seeking regime change in Russia. Xi is due to host Putin in China next month.
Several social media accounts with large followings strongly backing Ukraine's fight against the invasion angrily denounced the ambassador's attendance at the ceremony.
Meanwhile, MEP Michael Gahler, the spokesman on foreign affairs of the European People's Party (EPP) group in the European parliament said it was extremely regrettable that representatives of France, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus and Malta had attended the inauguration.
Representatives of other key Western powers -- including Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States -- are not believed to have attended.
Putin is an illegitimate president after a travesty of an 'electoral' process' that falls short of any democratic standards, he wrote on X.
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