Offensive cartoons: Russia reminds France of Charlie Hebdo
In its response to the French President, the Russian Foreign Ministry was keen on his dissatisfaction with a cartoon published by the Moscow Embassy in Paris, reminding him of the "Charlie Hebdo" incident.
Emmanuel Macron, during a press conference after the European Union summit in Brussels, criticized the Russian embassy's publication of a cartoon that he considered "offensive", stressing that such a move was unacceptable.
He pointed out that the French Foreign Ministry informed the Russian ambassador of Paris's dissatisfaction with this cartoon, adding: "This mistake has been fixed and I hope it will not be repeated."
"Offensive" cartoons... the headline of a Franco-Russian crisis
The drawing, which was published by the Russian embassy on its Twitter account, shows the body of a patient lying on an operating table with the words “Europe” written on it, and above it two doctors wearing two hats bearing the flags of the United States and the European Union and called them “Empire of Lies” and “European Reich”, and they give the patient We have a malicious right written on it with "Russia hate", "sanctions", "neo-Naziism", "Covid-19", "NATO" and "abolition culture".
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded, on her official channel in "Telegram", to Macron's words by saying: "Really? Wasn't it the French presidents and foreign ministry who were teaching us that any caricatures are normal, even the terrible Charlie Hebdo ones? We decided to follow their advice and use satire that they saw as evidence of freedom of expression, and now they don't like it."
The French president had defended the decision of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to republish pictures of the Prophet Muhammad, which caused an uproar as "offensive", saying: "As president of the republic, I should never comment on the editorial choices of a journalist or newspaper, ever, because there is freedom of information."
He added: "In France there is also freedom, and accordingly and from where I stand I must protect all these freedoms, and therefore I do not comment on the choice of a journalist, I have to say only that a person in France can criticize those who rule."
Fourteen people appeared before the French Criminal Court to face charges of involvement in the attack, which began at Charlie Hebdo's headquarters and ended in the "Kocher" store east of Paris on January 7, 2015, and led to the death of 17 people in the final result.
https://al-ain.com/article/cartoons-russia-france-charlie
