MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Larcher had a phone conversation with Russian upper house speaker Valentina Matvienko earlier on Thursday, discussing inter-parliamentary cooperation between Russia and France.
"Gerard Larcher stressed that the unanimous decision by the Senate of France to pass the given resolution regarding the sanctions against Russia will, undoubtedly, have a positive impact on Russian-French cooperation," the Russian Federation Council said in a statement.
Russian-French cultural and humanitarian ties have not been significantly impacted by the strained political situation in Europe, she added.
On Wednesday, the French Senate passed by overwhelming majority a resolution calling on the government to ease sanctions against Russia. The National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, adopted a similar resolution in April.
On June 28-29, the EU leaders are due to decide on further prolongation of sanctions at a summit in Brussels.
