Earlier in the day, a lawmaker from the French party The Republicans, Thierry Mariani, told Sputnik that he had drafted the resolution to abolish the anti-Russia sanctions, with plans to debate it in the National Assembly in January.
"Taking into account the geopolitical context and the urgent need to fight Islamic State together with Russia, maintaining economic sanctions against the Russian Federation has lost its relevance….. Indeed, we cannot ask Russia to be a partner in the fight against Daesh and simultaneously continue to impose sanctions against it," the document, presented to parliament on Wednesday, reads.
The document highlights the fact that Russia and France are already coordinating their aerial counter-terrorism offensives in Syria.
In the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks, France has boosted its anti-terror measures, in particular, enlarging its role in the US-led coalition and moving to coordinate its airstrikes with Moscow.
Following the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis later that year, Russia's relations with the West began to deteriorate.
The European Union condemned the reunification and refused to recognize a referendum in which 96 percent of the local population in Crimea voted in favor of the secession. The West accused Russia of fueling the conflict between Kiev and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine. As a punitive measure, the West imposed several rounds of sanctions against Moscow.
In July, a group of 10 French lawmakers, headed by Mariani, visited Crimea. The lawmakers said what they saw in the region was completely different from what Western media has portrayed.
