The relationship between Russia and France has recently been marked by tensions, in particular because of the Russian intervention in the war in Syria. These differences were also apparent in the French presidential election campaign: Russian president Vladimir Putin openly supported Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front and opponent of France’s newly elected head of state, Emmanuel Macron. The latter, in turn, had accused Russia of conducting a ‘dangerous foreign policy’. However, by inviting Putin to Paris on 29 May, Macron signalled that there is no alternative to dialogue with Russia. Political scientist David Cadier assesses the two leaders’ meeting and considers how relations between Russia and France may develop in future.

Participants

• Dr. David Cadier is an Associate Fellow at LSE IDEAS and a TAPIR visiting fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs. Previously, he was a Teaching Fellow in International Strategy and Diplomacy at the London School of Economics. He obtained his PhD from Sciences Po Paris in 2012 and held visiting positions at Center for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS Johns Hopkins University in Washington, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, and the Prague Institute of International Relations. He also had professional experiences at the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna, the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the French Embassy to Estonia. David focuses in his research on EU-Russia relations, the foreign policies of EU member states (especially France, Poland and the Czech Republic) and Russia’s foreign policy.

Recent/relevant publications

• Russia and France’s Right, in: Foreign Affairs, October 2016.
• Detour or direction? The Europeanisation of France’s policies towards Russia, FIIA Briefing Paper 195, The Finnish Institute for International Affairs, May 2016.
• Russia’s foreign policy: ideas, domestic politics and external relations (co-edited with Margot Light), Palgrave, Palgrave Studies in International Relations, July 2015.
• Modalities of think tanks’ involvement in foreign policy making: a comparative analysis of the Czech Republic and Poland (with Monika Sus), in: The International Spectator, Vol. 52, Issue 1, March 2017.