The freeze of its Paris bank accounts is effectively blocking the operations of the Russia House, Russian Ambassador to France Aleksey Meshkov has told RIA Novosti. Russian House, which promotes Russian language and traditions, operates under Rossotrudnichestvo, a Russian government agency. Moscow argues that closing it violates bilateral agreements.
“Attempts are being made to completely freeze the work of the Russian House due to the fact that accounts have been frozen. We are having difficult negotiations with the French on this issue, especially since the Russian House exists here legally, on the basis of a bilateral agreement, and a French cultural center operates in Russia. This is a negative development of events in recent weeks,” Meshkov said.
