France is ready for a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine, but this process must be linked with the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the chairman of the French Senate’s foreign affairs, defense and armed forces commission Jean-Pierre Raffarin said at a meeting with Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko on Tuesday.
“As for Ukraine, we have approved a resolution on the issue of sanctions and believe the lifting of sanctions can be started gradually depending on how all Minsk provisions will be translated into life,” the senator said. “Kiev also shares responsibility (for the implementation of the Minsk agreements),” he marked.
“As for two thorny issues (Ukraine and Syria), we must continue our dialog at a historically high strategic level that is intrinsic to Russian-French relations,” Raffarin said.
He also said Russia and France should create a common space of security in Eurasia. “We will be able to build Eurasia of peace only though joint efforts,” he stressed.