Paris, Feb. 25 (SANA) France will bar U.S. Ambassador to Paris Charles Kushner from meetings with government officials until he responds to a formal summons from the Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Tuesday, escalating a diplomatic dispute between the two allies.
The Associated Press reported that Kushner failed to attend a scheduled meeting Monday after French authorities summoned him over comments by the Trump administration regarding the killing of a far-right activist in France. The Foreign Ministry said the ambassador did not appear and offered no immediate explanation.
“There is nothing more usual than summoning an ambassador when explanations are needed,” Barrot told France Info radio. “When these explanations have taken place, the U.S. ambassador will naturally regain access to members of the French government.”
Barrot called Kushner’s absence “a surprise” that contravened diplomatic protocol and said it would affect his ability to carry out his mission.
The dispute stems from social media posts by the U.S. State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau linking “violent radical leftism” to the recent death of Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old nationalist activist who died after being beaten in clashes between far-left and far-right groups in Lyon. The U.S. Embassy in Paris reposted the statement in French.
Barrot said France does not accept foreign interference in its domestic political debate but stressed that the disagreement would not damage broader U.S.-France relations.
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