Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Alexei Meshkov from his position as Russia’s ambassador to France and Monaco, ending a diplomatic posting that began in 2017…
The decision was confirmed in a presidential decree published on Russia’s official legal information portal on Thursday, September 24. No reason was given for Meshkov’s departure and Moscow has not yet announced his successor, as reported by APA.
A career diplomat and former Russian deputy foreign minister, Meshkov previously served as ambassador to Italy and San Marino. His nine years in Paris coincided with a marked deterioration in relations between Russia and France, particularly following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
His departure comes weeks after Russia confirmed the end of Andrei Kelin’s tenure as ambassador to the United Kingdom. Moscow insisted Kelin had simply completed his planned posting and urged against speculation that the move represented a downgrading of diplomatic relations. No replacement has yet been announced, with Russia’s chargé d’affaires heading the London mission in the interim.
The two departures come against a backdrop of continuing tensions between Moscow and European governments, including France, where the Kremlin this week publicly rejected allegations of Russian intimidation and interference.
Image: TASS