France, Russia never ceased to cooperate in fighting terror - diplomat
MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - France and Russia have never ceased to cooperate in fighting terrorism, the French ambassador to Russia said on Wednesday.
"The French and Russians are united both in sorrow and in fighting international terrorism. No matter what our current differences are, we have never suspended active and absolutely concrete interaction in fighting terrorism," Jean-Maurice Ripert said at a reception at his residence in Moscow.
"My country and Europe participate in this fight, a fight in which we will win without sacrificing our democratic ideals," he said.
He called for global anti-terrorist action.
He also mentioned lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anastasia Baburova, who were murdered in Moscow in January 2009.
Ripert deplored killings of journalists in war zones in Ukraine and elsewhere. "Each such death deprives us of a little of our freedom and dignity," he said.
France, by the way it reacted to the Charlie Hebdo murders, "proved its adherence to freedom of speech extremely vividly," the diplomat said.
He praised "the tireless work of all those who devote their lives to the defense of freedom of speech, the main value of any genuinely democratic society."