The incident will not happen again. After the access refused at the end of July to two Russian nationals wanting to visit the castle of Vincennes (Val-de-Marne), the office of the Minister for the Armed Forces regretted, Tuesday August 9, a lack of “discernment” and ensured that Russians were still allowed at its tourist sites.
On July 28, two Russian women were refused entry to the tourist spot because of their origin. One of them, a 31-year-old professional journalist, testified to Agence France-Presse that she had been “upset” by this ban. Arrived in France “five months ago”she had ” exactly “ fled Russia because she was “opposed to war”she confided.
On Monday, a department of the Ministry of the Armed Forces had justified the ban by a “internal directive” socket “following the invasion of Ukraine” to restrict “access to the ministry’s military premises for Russian nationals”. This castle, located south-east of Paris, notably contains one of the centers of the historical defense service, whose libraries and archives are accessible to the public under certain conditions.
Restriction of “access to military premises”
The office of the Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, contacted AFP on Tuesday to clarify its response. The episode of the Château de Vincennes thus stems from a “undiscriminating application” of the rule enacted “in February for all military installations”explained the cabinet.
” It’s obvious that [cette règle] cannot be applied in the same way for strategic buildings as for places open to the public such as museums”, he insisted. The Château de Vincennes, but also the Air and Space Museum or the Invalides can therefore always welcome tourists and Russian immigrants. “The Minister for the Armed Forces asked (…) that we clarify this directive with the agents of these places to avoid any incident “added his cabinet, which was not aware of any other similar case.
Asked about this episode, as well as calls in Finland to halt the issuance of new tourist visas for Russian nationals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on these countries to “regain their senses”. “These statements come from countries that we have designated as unfriendly (…) Several of these countries are guided by their hostility to the point of unconsciousness”Mr. Peskov told the press. “I think in time common sense will prevail again and those who make these statements will come to their senses.”he added.
On the other hand, access to “strategic buildings” has been strictly restricted to Russians since the outbreak of the conflict in February. At the beginning of August, France crossed the threshold of 100,000 Ukrainian refugees hosted on its soil. According to INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies), 73,500 Russian immigrants lived in France in 2021.