Russian Embassy Cards Blocked From Fuel Purchases in France
cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/51369257
> Russian diplomats in Paris have had their bank cards blocked from making fuel purchases, Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov told the state news agency, The Moscow Times reported.
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> Meshkov ... stated that a Belgian bank initially triggered the block, and subsequent attempts to pay for gas through a French bank were also rejected. “This is a precedent literally from this week, because before this, even since 2022, there had never been any problems from this point of view,” the ambassador noted.
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> The diplomat called the frozen cards a “substantial blow,” citing the high fuel prices in Europe. He also complained that the embassy’s issues with its bank accounts have become “practically permanent.”
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> This financial squeeze follows a February 2025 decision by France to block the accounts of the Russian House in Paris [the Kremlin’s so-called “cultural humanitarian organization”— [the Russian House](https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russian-house-moscows-global-propaganda-machine-disguised-as-a-humanitarian-organization-6295)—remains a key tool of Moscow’s political subversion], though the French Finance Ministry later allowed basic “life-supporting” payments to be processed directly through a bank employee, according to The Moscow Times.
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> ...
> Russian diplomats in Paris have had their bank cards blocked from making fuel purchases, Russian Ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov told the state news agency, The Moscow Times reported.
>
> ...
>
> Meshkov ... stated that a Belgian bank initially triggered the block, and subsequent attempts to pay for gas through a French bank were also rejected. “This is a precedent literally from this week, because before this, even since 2022, there had never been any problems from this point of view,” the ambassador noted.
>
> ...
>
> The diplomat called the frozen cards a “substantial blow,” citing the high fuel prices in Europe. He also complained that the embassy’s issues with its bank accounts have become “practically permanent.”
>
> This financial squeeze follows a February 2025 decision by France to block the accounts of the Russian House in Paris [the Kremlin’s so-called “cultural humanitarian organization”— [the Russian House](https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russian-house-moscows-global-propaganda-machine-disguised-as-a-humanitarian-organization-6295)—remains a key tool of Moscow’s political subversion], though the French Finance Ministry later allowed basic “life-supporting” payments to be processed directly through a bank employee, according to The Moscow Times.
>
> ...