France denounced today for a will to “intimidate” on behalf of Russia, after Russian diplomacy summoned the French ambassador to Moscow yesterday, according to a press release from the French Foreign Ministry.

“France notes that diplomatic channels of communication have once again been usurped with the aim of manipulating information and intimidation,” the press release said.

Russia summoned France’s ambassador yesterday to denounce Paris’ “provocative” policy on the war in Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron again raised the possibility of sending Western troops there.

“Due to the increasingly aggressive statements on the part of the French authorities and the receipt of information that speaks of an ever greater involvement of France in the conflict around Ukraine (…), the ambassador of France, Pierre Levy, was summoned”, he announced to a statement the Russian diplomacy.

“The Russian side presented its initial assessment of the destructive and provocative Paris line, which leads to an escalation of the conflict,” he added.

Today Paris replied that Moscow “has once again engaged in a reversal of blame, seeking to accuse Western countries of threatening Russia, while it has been waging a war of aggression in Ukraine for more than two years in defiance of international law and which continues, mainly through cyber attacks and hybrid actions, its aggressive maneuvers aimed at destabilizing European countries”.

France “will continue to provide long-term support to Ukraine, which is defending its national sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russian aggression,” the foreign ministry warned in the same statement.

In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron explained his position on the possible deployment of troops to Ukraine.

“If the Russians were going to break the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request, which is not the case today, we should legitimately ask the question,” the French president said.