Russia withdraws accreditation of French correspondent in retaliatory move

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia on Thursday said it withdrew the accreditation of the French Le Monde newspaper’s correspondent in Moscow in a retaliatory move after France refused to issue a visa to a Russian reporter.

In a statement on Telegram, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the French Embassy in Moscow twice refused to issue a work visa to a reporter of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Zakharova said the Russian side informed the French Foreign Ministry and its ambassador in Moscow that it would be forced to retaliate.

“The lot fell on Le Monde's permanent correspondent in Russia, Benjamin Quenelle, whose accreditation required a technical extension,” Zakharova said, adding that there is no “political subtext” in this decision.

Indicating that Quenelle was informed of the situation, Zakharova said he actively tried to resolve the situation.

“French diplomacy treated the warnings about the inevitable consequences for their compatriot with indifference and upheld the previously adopted decision not to issue a visa to the Russian journalist. The announced retaliatory measures followed,” she said.

“If the problem with issuing visas to Russian journalists is resolved, then the French correspondent will also be issued accreditation,” she added.

Le Monde's editorial director, Jerome Fenoglio, wrote in a Wednesday article that the newspaper will not have a correspondent in the country for the first time since 1957. Fenoglio condemned Russia’s decision to cancel Quenelle’s accreditation, urging authorities in Moscow to reverse the decision.

Fenoglio said that according to the French Foreign Ministry, the names put forward by Moscow for acquiring work visas were the names of “agents of Russian intelligence services.”