Russia MFA spox: France attempting to play peacekeeper in South Caucasus amid its failure in Africa

France, after the failure of its African policy, is attempting to create an image of a peacemaker in Nagorno-Karabakh although Russia has played a peacekeeping role there, said the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Maria Zakharova.

During a Sunday program on the air of Russia-1 television, Zakharova said that, in her opinion, the increase in activity of Paris in the South Caucasus "is a kind of compensation for the failure of the French policy in Africa."

In her view, France's attempts in the South Caucasus include peacekeeping efforts.

"We understand that it has nothing to do with peacekeeping. It was our country [i.e. Russia] that assumed and fulfilled the entire peacekeeping role—even as a mediator in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. Now, when the most difficult phase is over, we hope that France, as a member of NATO, will not start stoking the fire again," said Zakharova.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had traveled to France on an official visit in late February. In a joint news briefing there with Pashinyan, French President Emmanuel Macron had said that Paris supports efforts to establish a just and stable peace in the South Caucasus.