France's Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has not reportedly allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide Vladislav Surkov, who represented Russia at a recent meeting in the Normandy Four format in Paris, to stay for another day after the official event held on July 12.
"Surkov, who has been under European Union sanctions since 2014, planned to stay in the French capital for another day, he even bought a return ticket for flight SU2458, departing at 17:05 local time on July 13, but the French Foreign Ministry denied him [the prolonged stay] and politely asked him to leave France on the evening of July 12, right after the meeting of advisers," The Insider Russia reported on July 18, citing a source whose information was verified.
"Surkov had to obey," it added.
Read alsoManaged chaos: Putin has two scenarios of meddling in Ukraine elections
Surkov was placed on the sanctions list as one of the organizers of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Kremlin's supervisor of Russia-occupied Ukrainian territories.
Paris hosted the first meeting of foreign policy advisers to the Normandy Four leaders (Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia) to discuss, among other things, further steps to implement the Minsk agreements. After the meeting, the German side stressed that the negotiations had been based on the latest positive developments in the east of Ukraine. During the meeting, the parties discussed further steps to implement the Minsk agreements in Donbas, namely the ceasefire.
