France–Russia relations

France-Russia relations is the relationship between the two countries, France and Russia. Russia has an embassy in Paris, and consulates in Marseilles and Strasbourg, and France has an embassy in Moscow and a consulate in Saint Petersburg. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe, G8, and the United Nations.

History

The French invasion of Russia

Russia fought Napoleon (the commander of France) during the time of France's invasion. Russia won in 1812. Napoleon later raised an army of 400,000 French troops after the defeat. Napoleon did still manage to inflict heavy losses on the far larger Allied armies as they drove towards Paris, though they captured the city and forced him to abdicate in 1814.

During World War I

France has been allies with Russia during World War I (along with Britain and the United States) to fight Germany and Austro-Hungary.

France and Russia today

Today both countries have developed a friendly relationship. Russian Orthodox Churchs can still be seen in Lyon, Meudon, Nice, and Paris. The churches date back to the Russian presence in France. French is a language still taught in schools in Russia.

Russia scheduled a launch for the Soyuz on the half of 2009 at the ELS - l'Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz, which the ESA is currently building at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Under the terms of a Russian–European joint venture, ESA will augment its own launch vehicle fleet with Soyuz rockets (and use them to launch ESA and/or commercial payloads) and the Russians will get access to the Kourou spaceport for launching their own payloads with Soyuz rockets.

External Links

* [http://www.ambafrance.org/russie/spip.php?article1 French embassy in Moscow]
* [http://www.france.mid.ru/ Russian embassy in Paris]