PARIS (Sputnik) – Apart from Meshkov, ambassadors from Algeria, Canada, Cuba, Iran, Kazakhstan, Oman, the United States, and several other countries participated in the ceremony.
"We have received instructions from the press service not to let you in today," the security officer told the correspondent at the entrance. The officer was also holding the list with an inscription, indicating this, in his hands.
The presidential administration’s document read that journalists would be able to watch the diplomats arriving, while they would not be granted access to the ceremony itself.
The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency said in a press release after the incident that it was investigating the reasons behind denial of access to its corespondent to the Elysee Palace territory ahead of the ceremony.
This incident is not the first case of the French presidential administration denying access to its events to RIA Novosti journalists. In July, an agency’s correspondent and a photographer were prohibited from attending the meeting between Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Meshkov, who had previously worked as the Russian deputy foreign minister, was appointed as ambassador to France by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree of October 23.
