Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has canceled–or at least postponed–his expected visit to Paris planned for late June. Instead, he is visiting Russia following Putin’s invitation to a three-day visit to Saint Petersburg this week.
During an “official” encounter, Algerian ambassador to Paris Saïd Moussi stated directly to head of French Senate Gérard Larcher that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had no intentions of visiting Paris by the end of June, as previously agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron in April.
The envoy stated that organizing this state visit remained impossible due to many stumbling blocks in bilateral ties that precluded tandem between the official agendas of the two presidents.
Tebboune issued a new decree last Saturday, reinstating a portion of the Algerian national anthem which–when originally composed–featured an unfavorable reference to France, thus helping to re-energize the historical toxicity of politics between the two states.
On the Russian front, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivered Putin’s invitation during his visit to Algiers in May last year with the goal of boosting bilateral military, economic, and humanitarian relations, among other objectives.
However, this visit has been roundly criticized by the Algerian media. For example, the Maghreb Emergent website stated that “The timing is not at all appropriate, as this visit by the president could be construed as a bias in favor of Russia in its conflict with Ukraine.”
Tebboune answered a question on the issue saying, “Russia is a friendly country which helped our revolution and with which we have historical political, diplomatic, and economic relations, but we also have good relations with the United States and the countries of the European Union.”
Though with far less capacity, Algeria has become a fuel alternative for European nations seeking to lessen their dependency on Russian energy in the aftermath of the Ukraine conflict.