France–Russia relations, also known as Franco-Russian relations or Russo-French relations, are the bilateral relations between the French Republic and the Russian Federation. France has an embassy in Moscow, whereas Russia has an embassy in Paris. Relations have historically been complicated, and have been more tense in recent years.

History In the 18th century, Russia imported French intellectuals, most of whom were negative about the little-known land. During the Napoleonic era (1799–1815), both nations wanted to dominate Central and Eastern Europe. Napoleon launched a massive invasion of Russia in 1812, but its failure led to his defeat and Russian dominance in Eastern Europe. Russia also wanted to dominate the Ottoman Empire, but France and Britain fought and won the Crimean War (1854–1856) to prevent that.Ezequiel Adamovsky, "Russia as a space of hope: nineteenth-century French challenges to the liberal image of Russia." European History Quarterly 33.4 (2003): 411-449.Raymond T. McNally, "The origins of russophobia in France: 1812-1830." American Slavic and East European Review 17.2 (1958): 173-189.George Frost Kennan, The decline of Bismarck's European order: Franco-Russian relations 1875-1890 (Princeton University Press, 2020).

In the 1890s France was diplomatically isolated and built an alliance with Russia. Together with Britain, they went to war with Germany between 1914 and 1918. After gaining control in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers in 1918. In the 1930s, France could not forge an alliance against a resurgent Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union and the United States were the remaining superpowers after 1945, but they faced off in a long Cold War (1947–1989). France supported the United States in the NATO alliance against Communist expansion. Since 1989 relations have been proper but not warm, with several issues marring relations such as the War in Donbas (which evolved into the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine) and Russia's increasing involvement in West Africa.J.F.V. Keiger, France and the world since 1870 (2001) 186-199.

Due to the fact that the Russian centralised state, formed in the 15th-16th centuries, was almost constantly in a state of diplomatic and military confrontation with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Catholic rulers of France for a long time avoided establishing direct diplomatic contacts with Moscow. Real interest in Russia appeared in France only after the 1607 publication of the work of Huguenot mercenary Jacques Margeret, "The State of the Russian State and the Grand Duchy of Moscow", information from which was used in the "History of his time" (1620) by the famous historian Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553–1617).

In 1615, the embassy of Ivan Kondyrev arrived at the court of Louis XIII, which ended in failure, but laid the foundation for diplomatic relations between Russia and France.

In the summer of 1668, a Russian embassy travelled from Spain to Paris. Headed by the steward Pyotr Potemkin, who had an audience with Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the embassy discussed the establishment of mutually beneficial trade relations between the two countries.

The first diplomatic representation of Russia in France appeared in 1702 by decree of Peter I, who was interested in an alliance with Louis XIV due to the rapprochement between England and Sweden. A visit to France by Peter I himself in 1717 served as the starting point for the establishment of permanent diplomatic relations between the two countries, interrupted only by the French Revolution.

Concerned about the dominance of the Germans at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740), French diplomacy actively promoted the palace coup of 1741 and the enthronement of Elizabeth of Russia, who from her youth sympathised with France and King Louis XV, whom she had unsuccessfully tried to marry. An active role was played by the Marquis de la Chétardie, who served as diplomatic envoy to the Russian court from 1739 to 1744. However, after the efforts of Chancellor Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, de la Chétardie fell into disgrace and in 1748, the influence of the pro-French party weakened noticeably.

18th century

Franco-Russian diplomatic ties began in 1702, when France Jean Casimir Baluze as ambassador and the Tsar sent Peter Postnikov to Paris. France was the dominant nation in Western Europe and Russia in Eastern Europe, so their interests seldom overlapped. When involved in the same war, their troops rarely fought together as allies or directly against each other as enemies on the same battlefields. There was some tension when the Russians took an interest in Malta, in the center of French control of the Mediterranean, and Paris made sure the influence was limited.Thomas Freller, "In Search of a Mediterranean Base: the Order of St. John and Russia's Great Power Plans During the Rule of Tsar Peter the Great and Tsarina Catherine II." Journal of Early Modern History 8.1 (2004): 3-30. Increasingly as each power expanded each played a growing role in the European balance of power. France was generally allied with Sweden, Poland–Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire, in explicit opposition to the Austrian Habsburgs but implicitly also against Russia. There was no direct war between the two. However they fought on opposite sides in the 1733–1738 War of the Polish Succession and in the 1740–1748 War of the Austrian Succession; they were allies against Prussia and Great Britain during the Seven Years' War of 1756 to 1763.John P. LeDonne, The Grand Strategy of the Russian Empire, 1650–1831 (2003) pp 40, 63, 85–92.

There was little economic trade but more in the way of intellectual exchange, starting with the visit of Peter the Great to Paris in 1717. He and Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine all sponsored French intellectuals to visit and teach in Russia. Thus French artists dominated the Russian Academy of Fine Arts after 1758. In the mid 18th century Voltaire gave French Enlightenment intellectuals a positive image, portraying Russia as an opportunity society, in which an all-powerful leaders such as Peter the Great could create a rational and enlightened society by decree. On the other hand, equally influential French Enlightenment writers, especially Denis Diderot, portrayed Russia in dark colours, emphasising the lack of an Enlightenment tradition or a middle class, and a propensity toward harsh dictatorship.Ezequiel Adamovsky, Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880) (Peter Lang, 2006) pp. 36, 83Michael Confino, "Re-inventing the Enlightenment: western images of eastern realities in the eighteenth century." Canadian Slavonic Papers 36.3-4 (1994): 505-522.

19th century

Napoleonic Wars

Russia and France were mostly enemies in the Napoleonic Wars. Russia fought against France in the War of the Second Coalition. Once Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799, Russia remained hostile and fought in the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalitions, which were victories for France and saw French power extend into Central Europe. After the defeat of the Imperial Russian Army in the Battle of Friedland, Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I met aboard a barge in the Nieman River to negotiate a separate peace in a ceremony modeled after negotiations of Roman Emperors. Although Napoleon and Alexander had cordial personal relations, the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807 led to an uneasy alliance. Both Napoleon and Alexander wanted to control eastern Europe. However Napoleon established a puppet Polish state — the Duchy of Warsaw — which annoyed Russia. Napoleon was bothered that Russia was trading with the United Kingdom.Hubert Zawadzki, "Between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander: The Polish Question at Tilsit, 1807." Central Europe 7.2 (2009): 110-124. The goal was not to conquer or absorb Russia but to punish the Tsar and force him back into line.Alan Forrest, "Napoleon's Vision of Empire and the Decision to Invade Russia." in Russia and the Napoleonic Wars (2015) pp 43-56. Napoleon amassed a huge army of 600,000 soldiers from France and its allies to invade Russia in 1812. Only a tenth survived the fighting and the extreme cold. It was a spectacular defeat for France and a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, leading to a massive Sixth coalition alliance in which Russia played the leading role. Paris fell. Bonaparte abdicated and the Bourbon kings returned to power in 1814. Napoleon made a brief 100-day return in 1815 but was forced to surrender again.For the Russian perspective see Dominic Lieven, Russia Against Napoleon (2011); for the French perspective see Michael Adams, Napoleon and Russia (2006).

Russia supports conservatism after 1814 At the Vienna Congress of 1814–15, Russia played a major diplomatic role as a leader of the conservative, anti-revolutionary forces. This suited the Bourbon kings who again ruled France after the Restoration. Russia was a leader of the conservative Concert of Europe which sought to stifle revolution.Barbara Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow: tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814-1974 (1974) pp 28-64.

Russia and France both supported the successful Greek revolt against Ottoman rule, 1821–1831. In terms of minorities living under Ottoman rule, Russia saw itself as the protector of Orthodox Christianity while France saw itself as the protector of Catholicism.Lucien J. Frary, Russia and the making of modern Greek identity, 1821-1844 (2015). Russia gave financial support of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Syria and Palestine, while France aided Catholic mission work. Russia's impact was limited by distrust of Greek bishops who distrusted the Patriarch in Moscow.Jelavich, St. Petersburg and Moscow pp 65–70.Abdul Latif Tibawi, "Russian cultural penetration of Syria—Palestine in the nineteenth century" Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 53.2 (1966): 166-182.

Charles X and his ministers in the late 1820s sought to strengthen France's position in Europe by pursuing an alliance with Tasrist Russia, particularly under the influence of the Ultras government led by Prince de Polignac. The alliance stance was intended to counterbalance Great Britain (Hanover) and liberal forces in Europe, ensuring that France remained aligned with other reactionary powers. However, Russia was heavily preoccupied with the Polish insurrection, which prevented Russian aid any possibility of external military intervention to maintain Charles X's regime during the July Revolution.

Russia led the forces of conservatism that helped crush the Revolutions of 1848 across Eastern Europe. In France, however, the Revolution succeeded in bringing the liberal Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte to power. Soon thereafter Napoleon's ambitious nephew arranged to have himself crowned Emperor Napoleon III of the Second Empire. The intellectual mood in France feared Russian expansionism, military strength, and a premodern Asiatic (or "Tatar") perspective that hated the Enlightenment roots of Western European culture. The mood fostered public support for the Crimean War as Britain and France defeated Russia, 1854–1856.Raymond T. McNally, "The origins of russophobia in France: 1812-1830." American Slavic and East European Review 17.2 (1958): 173-189.On the "Tatar" theme see Ezequiel Adamovsky, Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740-1880) (Peter Lang, 2006).

France joins Crimean War against Russia, 1854–1856

Napoleon III favoured a "policy of nationalities" (principe des nationalités) or support to national revolutions in multinational countries like Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, something fervently opposed by the Tsarist regime. France's challenges to Russia's influence led France to participate in the Crimean War, which saw British and French troops invade the Crimean peninsula and defeat Russia.

Temporary entente 1859–1863