On Monday, French media reported that the city of Saint-Genevieve-de-Bois did not accept Russia's payments to renew the lease of places at the city cemetery, where prominent Russians are buried.
"The city of Saint-Genevieve-de-Bois will continue to take measures to preserve this important object of international heritage. Russian graves will not be disturbed and we confirm that the city will ensure, as it does today, the maintenance and restoration of places in the municipal cemetery," the statement said.
The mayor's office said that the refusal to accept Russia's payment was connected to the "exceptional international conditions."
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the conflict in Ukraine, the procedure, unfortunately, cannot be continued, and restoration work on the graves cannot be carried out... As for the payments for 2022, the exceptional international context forced us to temporarily postpone them," the mayor's office said.