Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin delivers a speech during a session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia, 7 April 2022;
Credit: Sputnik/Alexander Astafyev/Pool via Reuters/file photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, plans to formally ask France's National Assembly if it is aware that French mercenaries have been fighting on Ukraine's side, Vyacheslav Volodin, the Duma's chairman, said on Friday 19 January 2024.
Volodin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, made the statement after the Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday 17 January 2024 that its forces had killed more than 60 foreign mercenaries, mostly French citizens, in a strike on a building in Kharkiv. It did not provide evidence to back the assertion.
France rejected the allegations, saying it was helping Ukraine defend its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity but had no mercenaries in Ukraine "unlike certain others".
"In France, the mercenary trade is forbidden by law," Volodin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
"It is important for us to know whether they [French lawmakers] are aware that someone, violating the law, is sending fighters to fight in Ukraine."
The Duma would consider its address to the French parliament at the next meeting of the lower chamber of parliament which is scheduled for 23 January 2024, he said.
Russia announced on Thursday 18 January 2024 it had summoned the French ambassador to the Foreign Ministry over the mercenary allegations.
