France–Russia relations
France |
Russia |
---|---|
Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of France, Pierre Lévy | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Aleksey Meshkov |
France–Russia relations, also known as Franco-Russian relations or Russo-French relations (French: Relations entre la France et la Russie, Russian: Российско-французские отношения, Rossiysko-frantsuzskiye otnosheniya), have seldom been friendly.
In the 18th century Russia imported French intellectuals, most of whom were negative about the little-known land. During the
According to a 2017 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 36% of French people had a favourable view of Russia and 62% an unfavourable view.[1] A 2018 opinion poll published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed that 81% of Russians had a favourable view of France and 19% an unfavourable view.[2]
History
Due to the fact that the Russian centralised state, formed in the 15th-16th centuries, was almost constantly in a state of diplomatic and military confrontation with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Catholic rulers of France for a long time avoided establishing direct diplomatic contacts with Moscow. Real interest in Russia appeared in France only after the 1607 publication of the work of Huguenot mercenary Jacques Margeret, "The State of the Russian State and the Grand Duchy of Moscow", information from which was used in the "History of his time" (1620) by the famous historian Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553–1617).
In 1615, the embassy of
In the summer of 1668, a Russian embassy travelled from Spain to Paris. Headed by the steward Pyotr Potemkin, who had an audience with Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the embassy discussed the establishment of mutually beneficial trade relations between the two countries.
The first diplomatic representation of Russia in France appeared in 1702 by decree of
Concerned about the dominance of the
18th century
Franco-Russian diplomatic ties began in 1702, when France Jean Casimir Baluze as ambassador and the Tsar sent Peter Postnikov to Paris. France was the dominant nation in Western Europe and Russia in Eastern Europe, so their interests seldom overlapped. When involved in the same war, their troops rarely fought together as allies or directly against each other as enemies on the same battlefields. There was some tension when the Russians took an interest in Malta, in the center of French control of the Mediterranean, and Paris made sure the influence was limited.[3] Increasingly as each power expanded each played a growing role in the European balance of power. France was generally allied with Sweden, Poland–Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire, in explicit opposition to the Austrian Habsburgs but implicitly also against Russia. There was no direct war between the two. However they fought on opposite sides in the 1733–1738 War of the Polish Succession and in the 1740–1748 War of the Austrian Succession; they were allies against Prussia during the Seven Years' War of 1756 to 1763.[4]
There was little economic trade but more in the way of intellectual exchange, starting with the visit of
19th century
Napoleonic wars
Russia and France were mostly enemies in the
Russia supports conservatism after 1814
At the Vienna Congress of 1814–15, Russia played a major diplomatic role as a leader of the conservative, anti-revolutionary forces. This suited the Bourbon kings who again ruled France after the Restoration. Russia was a leader of the conservative Concert of Europe which sought to stifle revolution.[11]
Russia and France both supported the successful
Russia led the forces of
France joins Crimean War against Russia, 1854–1856
Napoleon III favoured a "policy of nationalities" (principe des nationalités) or support to national revolutions in multinational countries like
Temporary entente 1859–1863
Following the Crimean War, Napoleon III tried hard to reach a friendly entente with Russia, and succeeded in so doing with a secret treaty signed in March 1859. The treaty stated in article 1: "in case of war of Piedmont and France against Austria, the Emperor Alexander will, from the moment of the declaration of war, adopt a political and military position most clearly demonstrating his benevolent neutrality towards France."
Growth of ties 1871–1900
Imperial Russia's foreign policy was hostile to republican France in the 19th century and very pro-German. The First and Second Three Emperor's Leagues of the 1870s and 1880s-which brought together Germany, Austria and Russia-had as its stated purpose the preservation of the monarchical order in Europe against the France of the Third Republic. After the defeat in the Franco-German war of 1870–71, French elites concluded that France could never hope to defeat Germany on its own, and the way to defeat the Reich would be with the help of another great power. Germany's Otto von Bismarck drew the same conclusion and worked hard to keep France diplomatically isolated.[20]
Politically, France was deeply polarised between
In August 1891, France and Russia signed a "consultative pact" where both nations agreed to consult each other if another power were to threaten the peace of Europe. Negotiations were increasingly successful, and in early 1894 France and Russia agreed to the Franco-Russian Alliance, a military pledge to join in war if Germany attacked either of them. The alliance was intended to deter Germany from going to war by presenting it with the threat of a two-front war; neither France or Russia could hope to defeat Germany on its own, but their combined power might do so. France had finally escaped its diplomatic isolation.[22][23] The alliance was secret until 1897, when the French government realised that secrecy was defeating its deterrent value. After France was humiliated by Britain in the Fashoda Incident of 1898, the French wanted the alliance to become an anti-British alliance. In 1900, the alliance was amended to name Great Britain as a threat and stipulated that should Britain attack France, Russia would invade British India. The French provided a loan so that the Russians could start the construction of a railroad from Orenburg to Tashkent. Tashkent in its turn would be the base from which the Russians would invade Afghanistan as the prelude to invading India.[24]
20th century
In 1902, Japan formed a
During the
When World War I began in 1914, the Central Powers were opposed by the Triple Entente, composed of Russia, France and Britain. In 1916, Russia's Brusilov offensive achieved its original goal of forcing Germany to halt its attack on Verdun and transfer considerable forces to the East.[27]
Soviet Union
After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Russia left the Entente and agreed to a separate peace with the Central Powers. In December 1917 France broke relations with Bolshevik Russia and supported the White Guard in the Russian Civil War. It also recognised Pyotr Wrangel, the military dictator of South Russia and the leader of the White Caucasus Army, as the legitimate head of state of Russia.[28]
The rapid growth of power in Nazi Germany encouraged both Paris and Moscow to form a military alliance, and the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed in May 1935. A firm believer in collective security, Stalin's foreign minister Maxim Litvinov worked very hard to form a closer relationship with France and Britain.[29]
When Germany invaded the USSR in 1941, Charles de Gaulle emphasised that Free France supported the Soviet Union. In December 1944, de Gaulle went to Moscow; The two nations signed a treaty of alliance and mutual assistance. The treaty was renounced in 1955.[30]
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev made a visit to France in October 1985 in order to fix the strains in the Franco-Soviet relations.
1991–2015
The
During the
A piece of major news was the sale of
2015–2022
France and Russia were both attacked by the group
The
A poll conducted by YouGov in 2015 found that only 15% of French people believed that the Soviet Union contributed most to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, a decline from 57% in the same survey in May 1945.[41]
On 29 August 2020, the French Defense Minister Florence Parly informed that a senior military officer came under investigation for sharing the ultra-sensitive information to the Russian intelligence. The lieutenant-colonel was accused of "serious security breaches", for which he was facing legal proceedings.[42]
On 20 February 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to work toward a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.[43] The two leaders also agreed on "the importance of favouring a diplomatic solution to the present crisis and doing all possible to achieve one," according to the Élysée, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meeting "in the coming days."[43]
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine
After the
Since Macron took power in France, Russian-French relations have remained at a standstill. According to Macron, "the war will continue" and he urged the French people "to prepare for the scenario where we all have to go without Russian gas." Macron's government has urged a "sobriety plan" to conserve energy rather than seek better diplomatic relations with the
In January 2024, Russia summoned the French ambassador to the Foreign Ministry over allegations that French mercenaries have been fighting on Ukraine's side in the defense against Russia's invasion.[48]
French intelligence services in Russia
In 1980 France's domestic intelligence service, the
Russian intelligence services in France
During the Cold War, Russian active measures targeted French public opinion. Some indication of the success is given by polls that showed more French support to the Soviet Union than the United States.[51]
According to French counterintelligence sources in 2010, Russian espionage operations against France have reached levels not seen since the 1980s.[52]
Examples of operations
Examples of suspected or verified Soviet and Russian operations:
- Agence France-Presse - The Mitrokhin archive identified six agents and two confidential contacts.[53]
- Mitrokhin archive contains two senior Le Monde journalists and several contributors.[53] Le Monde, through its supplement Le Monde Diplomatique, has been among the Western news outlets most sharply critical of the Mueller investigation.[54][55]
- La Tribune des Nations - Effectively KGB-run.[56]
- Various bogus biographies.[56]
- Infiltration of Gaullist movement: "More than any other political movement, Gaullism was swarming with agents of influence of the obliging KGB, whom we never succeeded in keeping away from de Gaulle"[57]
- Almost 15 million francs to De Gaulle's campaign, delivered by a businessman recruited by the KGB.[58]
- KGB hired people close to François Mitterrand.[59]
- Agents close to President Georges Pompidou were ordered to manipulate him with disinformation so he would become suspicious of the United States.[60]
- Pierre Charles Pathé - KGB codename PECHERIN (later MASON) ran one of Moscow's disinformation networks for 20 years until French counterintelligence decided to arrest him during a financial transaction.
Resident diplomatic missions
- France has an embassy in Moscow and consulates-general in Saint Petersburg and in Yekaterinburg.[61]
- Russia has an embassy in Paris and consulates-general in Marseille and in Strasbourg and a consular agency in Villefranche-sur-Mer.[62]
-
Embassy of France in Moscow
-
Consulate-General of France in Saint Petersburg
-
Embassy of Russia in Paris
-
Trade Office of Russia in Paris
-
Consulate-General of Russia in Marseille
-
Consulate-General of Russia in Strasbourg
See also
- History of French foreign relations
- Franco-Russian Alliance, 1891-1917
- French invasion of Russia, Napoleon in 1812
- International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)
- Igumnov House, residence of French ambassador in Moscow
- Lycée Français Alexandre Dumas de Moscou, school sponsored by French government
- Russians in France
- French in Russia
- France–Ukraine relations
References
- ^ "Publics Worldwide Unfavorable Toward Putin, Russia". Pew Research Center. November 30, 2017.
- ^ "RUSSIA AND FRANCE: THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE". Russian Public Opinion Research Center. May 28, 2018. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
- ^ Thomas Freller, "In Search of a Mediterranean Base: the Order of St. John and Russia's Great Power Plans During the Rule of Tsar Peter the Great and Tsarina Catherine II." Journal of Early Modern History 8.1 (2004): 3-30.
- ^ John P. LeDonne, The Grand Strategy of the Russian Empire, 1650–1831 (2003) pp 40, 63, 85–92.
- ^ Ezequiel Adamovsky, Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880) (Peter Lang, 2006) pp. 36, 83
- ^ Michael Confino, "Re-inventing the Enlightenment: western images of eastern realities in the eighteenth century." Canadian Slavonic Papers 36.3-4 (1994): 505-522.
- OCLC 646810103.
- ^ Hubert Zawadzki, "Between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander: The Polish Question at Tilsit, 1807." Central Europe 7.2 (2009): 110-124.
- ^ Alan Forrest, "Napoleon's Vision of Empire and the Decision to Invade Russia." in Russia and the Napoleonic Wars (2015) pp 43-56.
- ^ For the Russian perspective see Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon (2011); for the French perspective see Michael Adams, Napoleon and Russia (2006).
- ^ Barbara Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow: tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814-1974 (1974) pp 28-64.
- ^ Lucien J. Frary, Russia and the making of modern Greek identity, 1821-1844 (2015).
- ^ Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow pp 65–70.
- ^ Abdul Latif Tibawi, "Russian cultural penetration of Syria—Palestine in the nineteenth century" Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 53.2 (1966): 166-182.
- ^ Raymond T. McNally, "The origins of russophobia in France: 1812-1830." American Slavic and East European Review 17.2 (1958): 173-189.
- ^ On the "Tatar" theme see Ezequiel Adamovsky, Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880) (Peter Lang, 2006).
- ^ see B. H. Sumner "The Secret Franco-Russian Treaty of 3 March 1859" English Historical Review 48#189 (1933), pp. 65-83 online; John Knox Stevens, "The Franco-Russian Treaty of 1859: New Light and New Thoughts." The Historian 28#2 (1966): 203-223. online Quoting page 221.
- ^ A.J.P. Taylor, The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954) p 106
- ^ Taylor,The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954), 206-7.
- ^ Leonard Smith, et al. France and the Great War, 1914-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 11.
- ^ Smith, et al. France and the Great War, 1914-1918 (2003) pp 11-12.
- ^ John B. Wolf, France 1814-1919: The rise of a Liberal-Democratic Society (1963)
- ^ William L. Langer, The diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902 (2nd ed. 1960), pp 3-66.
- ^ Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848-1918 (1954) p. 398
- ^ Tomaszewski, Fiona "Pomp, Circumstance, and Realpolitik: The Evolution of the Triple Entente of Russia, Great Britain, and France" pages 362-380 from Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 47#3 (1999) pp 369-70.
- ISBN 9781349023073.
- ISBN 0-676-97224-1.
- OCLC 86068902.
- ISBN 9780333300503
- ^ Robert Gildea, France since 1945 (2002) pp 30-35.
- ^ Bell and Criddle. "The decline of the French communist party." British Journal of Political Science 19.4 (1989): 515-536.
- ^ French Ministry of foreign affairs - France and Russia
- ^ a b THE FOREIGN POLICY OF NICOLAS SARKOZY: The foreign policy of Nicolas Sarkozy: Not principles, opportunistic and amateurish. Marchel H. Van Herpen. February 2010
- New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ "Mistral warships: Russia and France agree compensation deal". BBC News. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
- ^ https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2015/09/23/france-says-egypt-to-buy-mistral-warships/ France Says Egypt To Buy Mistral Warships
- ^ Russia Open to Cooperation in Fight Against ISIS: French Foreign Minister, Newsweek
- ^ Hollande in Moscow: A new era in Russian-French relations?, BBC News
- ^ (in French) Syrie : la France et la Russie s'allient contre Daech, Le Parisien
- Le Huffington Post
- ^ "People in Britain and the U.S. disagree on who did more to beat the Nazis". YouGov. 1 May 2015.
- ^ "France arrests top military officer over Russian-linked 'breach'". DW. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Live: France says Putin, Macron agree to work for ceasefire in Ukraine". France 24. France 24. France 24. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ Lee, Michael (8 March 2020). "Here are the nations on Russia's 'unfriendly countries' list". CTV News.
- ^ "Russia outlines plan for 'unfriendly' investors to sell up at half-price". Reuters. 30 December 2022.
- ^ Lee, Michael (8 March 2020). "Here are the nations on Russia's 'unfriendly countries' list". CTV News.
- ^ "Macron warns France to brace for Russian gas cutoff". pbs.org. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
- ^ Andrew Osborn and Timothy Heritage (19 January 2024), Russian parliament to challenge French assembly over 'French mercenaries' in Ukraine Reuters.
- ^ "Farewell — The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth Century by Sergei Kostin and Eric Raynaud". Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- )
- ISBN 0-465-00312-5. p. 166
- ^ French secret service fear Russian cathedral a spying front. The Telegraph. 2010-05-28
- ^ ISBN 0-465-00312-5. p. 169-171
- ^ "The end of Russiagate". May 2019.
- ^ "Tchernobyl médiatique". May 2019.
- ^ a b The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 461-462
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 463
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 463
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 464
- ^ The Sword and the Shield (2000) p. 467-468
- ^ Embassy of France in Moscow
- ^ Embassy of Russia in Paris
Further reading
- Adams, Michael. Napoleon and Russia (2006)
- Andrew, Christopher. Théophile Délcassé and the Making of the Entente Cordiale, 1898–1905 (1968).
- Bovykin, V.I. “The Franco-Russian Alliance.” History 64 (1979), pp. 20–35.
- Carley, Michael Jabara. "Prelude to Defeat: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1919-39." Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques (1996): 159–188. in JSTOR
- Carley, Michael Jabara. "Episodes from the Early Cold War: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1917–1927." Europe-Asia Studies 52.7 (2000): 1275–1305.
- Carroll, E. Malcolm. French Public Opinion and Foreign Affairs, 1870–1914 (1931) thorough coverage of newspaper opinions on Russia. online
- Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914 (2012), pp. 124–35, 190–96, 293–313, 438–42, 498–505. online
- Desjardins, Robert. Soviet Union through French Eyes, 1945-1985 (1988) 188pp
- Dreifort, John E. “The French Popular Front and the Franco-Soviet Pact, 1936-1937: A Dilemma in Foreign Policy.” Journal of Contemporary History 11.2/3 (1976): 217-236.
- Fay, Sidney Bradshaw. The Origins of the World War (2nd ed. 1934) vol 1 pp 105–24, 312-42, vol 2 pp 277–86, 443-46. online
- Hamel, Catherine. La commémoration de l’alliance Franco-russe : La création d’une culture matérielle populaire, 1890-1914 (French) (MA thesis, Concordia University, 2016) ; online
- Hartley, Janet M. et al. eds. Russia and the Napoleonic Wars (2015), new scholarship
- Jelavich, Barbara. St. Petersburg and Moscow: tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814-1974 (1974) online
- Kaplan, Herbert H. Russia and the outbreak of the Seven Years' War (1968) on 1750s.
- Keiger, J.F.V. France and the World since 1870 (2001) online
- Kennan, George Frost. The fateful alliance: France, Russia, and the coming of the First World War (1984) online free to borrow
- Kennan, George F. The decline of Bismarck's European order: Franco-Russian relations, 1875-1890 (1979).
- Langer, William F. The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1890-1894 (1930)
- Langer, William F. The Diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890-1902 (1950) pp 3–66. online
- Lieven, Dominic. Russia against Napoleon: the battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814 (2009). excerpt
- Michon, Georges. The Franco-Russian Alliance: 1891-1917 (1969). online
- Ragsdale, Hugh, and Ponomarev, V.N., eds. Imperial Russian Foreign Policy (1993).
- Saul, Norman E. Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Foreign Policy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).
- Schmitt, B.E. The Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente (1947).
- Scott, William Evans. Alliance against Hitler: The Origins of the Franco-Soviet Pact (1962), the 1935 treaty with USSR online
- Siegel, Jennifer. For Peace and Money: French and British Finance in the Service of Tsars and Commissars (Oxford UP, 2014) on First World War loans.
- Sontag, Raymond James. European diplomatic history, 1871-1932 (1933), pp 29–58. online
- Taylor, A.J.P. The struggle for mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954) pp 325–45. online
- Tomaszewski, Fiona. "Pomp, Circumstance, and Realpolitik: The Evolution of the Triple Entente of Russia, Great Britain, and France." Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas vol. 3 (1999): 362–380. in JSTOR, in English
- Tomaszewski, Fiona K. A Great Russia: Russia and the Triple Entente, 1905-1914 (Greenwood, 2002).
- Wall, Irwin. "France in the Cold War" Journal of European Studies (2008) 38#2 pp 121–139.
Recent since 1991
- de Gliniasty, Jean. "Emmanuel Macron's Russian policy." Revue internationale et strategique 1 (2020): 31-39.
- Kutsenko, Andrii. "Emmanuel Macron and Franco-Russian relations at the present stage." Political Science and Security Studies Journal 1.1 (2020): 94-100. online
- Saul, Norman E. Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Foreign Policy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).