The diplomat stated in an interview for the TASS news agency that this risk is given by the unfriendly course of France and the Russophobia within the French media.

“All these factors, unfortunately, must be taken into account when deciding on a trip to France,” Klimov said, adding that “the current French authorities follow a generally unfriendly course towards our country, and the French media are deeply affected by an aggressive Russophobia, which cannot but hurt the general atmosphere that prevails in France towards Russia.”

“Concerning the Olympic Games, I would like to remind you that French representatives have repeatedly declared a ban on the display of Russian symbols at the Games,” the head of the Consular Department noted.

“It is still difficult to say how meticulously this ban will be controlled, for example, not in the stadiums, but on the streets of the city, but we cannot exclude excesses,” added the diplomat, according to whom the statements of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, that Russian athletes will not be welcome are indicative of the sentiments spread by official structures.

“Such an environment, of course, forms a breeding ground for the emergence and activation of all kinds of provocateurs,” Klimov noted.

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