France, Russia flag deeper ties but disagree over Syria

Jun 21, 2011, 15:46 GMT

Paris - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said he opposed any foreign intervention in the conflict in Syria on the basis that such action offered 'no prospects.'

Putin was speaking in France, on the second day of a two-day visit aimed at showcasing deepening trade ties between Moscow and Paris.

But the foreign policy divergences between the two countries - symbolised by Syria - were plain to see.

'Intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state has no prospect,' Putin told a joint press conference in Paris with Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

'We must not intervene, just assist. Foreign intervention doesn't always yield the solution to the conflict,' Putin said.

'Look at what happened in Iraq. There were no extremists there before (the US-led invasion in 2003). Now there are a lot of extremists. Is that for the better?' he asked.

Fillon took the view that the UN Security Council 'couldn't rest mute much longer' on the situation in Syria, where some 1,300 people are estimated to have been killed in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime since mid-March.

'The moment is coming when everyone must take their responsibilities,' Fillon said, admitting France and Russia had 'different approaches.'

France and Britain have been pushing for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would condemn Assad's regime.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the Financial Times this week Moscow would veto any UN resolution similar to the March resolution that authorized military intervention in Libya.

Russia abstained from the Libya vote, effectively allowing it to pass.

Putin arrived in Paris on Monday evening for a visit marking what conservative daily Le Figaro called a 'honeymoon' in Franco-Russian relations.

Last week, Russia announced it would purchase two French Mistral warships for 1.7 billion dollars with the possibility of producing another two of the amphibious assault ships in Russian shipyards under French supervision.

The deal, which saw France agree to give Moscow access to cutting-edge military technology, is expected to substantially strengthen Moscow's naval capacity.

Fillon said the deal was a 'major strategic decision, which proved Russia and France know the Cold War is over.'

France, the fifth-largest investor in Russia, is involved in a raft of infrastructure and technology projects - from the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner being shown this week at the Paris Air Show, to the Nord Stream gas pipeline project, which will link Russia and the European Union via the Baltic Sea.

The two countries also cooperate in the area of nuclear energy.

Irrespective of who became Russia's next president in 2012, 'that person will be very attentive to the development of Franco-Russian relations,' Putin assured.

He also expressed strong support for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde's bid to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund, saying she would be a 'very competent, very modern, very balanced' managing director.

Earlier Tuesday, Putin and Fillon attended the unveiling of a monument in Paris commemorating Russian soldiers who fought alongside the French during World War I.